


The Amazing Hero: Arachnid

by Eric_Coldfire



Series: The Amazing Hero: Arachnid [1]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crossover, Gen, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-06-23 18:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15612717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eric_Coldfire/pseuds/Eric_Coldfire
Summary: I didn't choose to be a hero, but in a cruel twist of fate, I was chosen to be a hero. This is my story, how I became The Amazing Hero: Arachnid.The idea of what would a Spider-Man be like within the My Hero Academia universe, with cameos and references to other Marvel heroes to come.





	1. Prelude

You don't know who I am, but you do know of me. I'm despised by the people of my city, considered by many to be a reckless thrill seeker, using my Quirk for my own amusement as I fight Villains in the street, jeopardizing the lives of citizens already in danger. I'm praised by the people of my city, believed to be guardian angel protecting those the Pros cannot, using my Quirk to serve others over a government paycheck, and villains think twice when I arrive on the scene.

All of these are true, but I choose action over reaction. I've seen firsthand what happens when Pro Heroes hesitate, when they wait for Pros with more powerful Quirks to arrive and save the day. I saw the price of hesitation, and it nearly cost me everything. . .

I was one of the twenty percent of the Earth's population born without a Quirk, most people would be let down after realizing they were born without one, but not me. Quirks seemed like such high maintenance, revolving one's life around some ability or extra body part. Do you know how many clothes I have alter or walls to reinforce due to my two arms, two legs and normal teenage strength? None. Most people think missing out on a Quirk was like missing a big sports game, but me on the other hand, I've never been one for sports activities.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those Anti-Quirk people from the old days, I love the modern Pros and all the work they do to help people and stop villains. World famous heroes like All-Might, Endeavor, and the especially attractive, Midnight. Even the local pros in my city are amazing, like The Devilish Hero; Beelzebeatdown, or the Patriotic Duo Heroes; Stars and Stripes, and even The Destructive Hero; Gamma Smash. But if I were to be completely honest, my love of the Pro heroes wasn't my own doing, it was something I inherited from my Aunt.

She's the one who introduced me to my love of heroes, sharing stories of their exploits from old comic books and modern news reports. With her Quirk; Webshot, she could've even been a great Pro hero, but she had to drop out of the Hero School, Academy X, after the accident that killed my parents. She and her husband, who like me was also Quirkless, raised me ever since. I think it was because of having to give up on her dream of being a hero, that she was so active in sharing the exploits of heroes with me. I'll always be grateful for that, if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be the hero I am today.

I can hear you asking, "but I thought you said you were Quirkless, how can you be a hero without a Quirk?" I was born Quirkless, raised Quirkless, even finished two years of High School as Quirkless, but I didn't stay Quirkless. That's where my story begins, last summer, the day I got my Quirk. The day my life changed and sent me on a completely different path.


	2. Origin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisashi Kumo is your average Quirkless high school student, with a love and admiration of Heroes and keen technical mind. After an tragic encounter with a Villain using stolen experimental technology, Kumo is set down the path to becoming the Amazing Hero: Arachnid.

My Hero name is Arachnid, but long before I was called that in praise or revulsion, I was called Kumo. Hisashi Kumo, as my traditionalist Uncle would prefer me to introduce myself, a sixteen year old high school student almost done with summer vacation and about to start his sophmore year. The only thing that made me stand out compared to my classmates was my lack of a Quirk, rare in my generation as opposed to a few decades ago but that was my luck.

Upon graduating middle school, my classmates scattered to various Hero Schools in the city. Some applying to the Sanctorum, an elusive school that would fly its elite students all over the world to train, or Aegis, a strict military styled boarding school that housed students in a floating base off the coast. The TSA is probably the second best school in the city, you might laugh at the name but its produced some of the cities' most popular and successful heroes, but the number one school short of flying out to UA in Japan would have to be Academy X. Academy X is unique in the instance that it acts as a Hero school and Hero agency, allowing graduating students to nearly skip the internship and go straight into sidekick roles with prominent students becoming full fledged heroes, or even stay as teachers, or get recommendations to join other agencies in the city.

Most students talk of Academy X with such admiration due to the Heroes it's produced, and I do the same, but in a slightly different way. My aunt, Hisashi Mei, was a student in Academy X, training like others who passed through those doors to be a Pro Hero. One of the best in her class back in the day, the Webslinging Hero; Miss Web, swinging into the scene in her red, white, and blue costume. She could've easily been one of the greatest Pro Heroes in the city, had she graduated the college course, had fate not intervened. My parents died when I was young, so long ago I can barely remember their faces, Mei and Ben took me in and raised me as their own. My Uncle Ben was born Quirkless and worked as mechanic, he lived comfortably but as Quirk based jobs grew, money grew tighter and tighter, and Mei had to put her dream of being a Pro on hold in order to raise me.

If she was crestfallen, she hid it well, as I was growing up I never saw her lose her smile. Carrying me up on her shoulders during the Hero parades, dressing up in her costume for Halloween, sitting by my bed reading me old comics, and holding me close on the couch as we watched the news as Heroes like All-Might saved lives. My love and admiration of Heroes grew from her, and in every moment we shared, she stoked that fire. She instilled into me that it was a Hero's number one responsibility to help people no matter what their Quirk was, and to a Hero, fame and recognition all come secondary. She held to that belief, right to the end. I remember every second of that day. 

It was the middle of summer, classes would resume in a month, and I couldn't wait. While I attended school, I was steadily becoming more and more prominent with tinkering in the school's workshop. Teachers even remarked how I should start interning at Oz Industries, one of the most world famous companies that manufacturers and sells equipment to Heroes around the world, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered it once I graduated. But all that was something to think about later, today, I was spending the day with Aunt Mei at the Hero Convention. 

Every summer, a collection of Hero Agencies and Hero Schools would hold a massive convention in the park, agencies would offer internships and registries for recently graduated students, and schools would have the opportunity to show off their top students and recruit potential students. It was like the old comic book conventions, only the costumes were on real heroes, and to fans and admirers of Heroes like Aunt Mei and I, it was like Christmas.

"Kumo! Over here!", Aunt Mei was calling me over. Like during Halloween, every Hero Convention we attended she'd bring out her old Hero suit, and every year it never stopped being amazing. A two toned colored bodysuit with a red pattern around the arms, legs, and her back with blue on her chest, shoulders, waistline, gloves, and boots. My favorite part of the design, a white spider web styled pattern over red parts of her suit. She also had a mask that went with the suit, also two toned red and blue, with a red bottom that wrapped around her mouth and nose like a bandana, with the blue part covering the rest of her head. The mask was complete with a pair of white goggles meant to protect her eyes, and a white spider web pattern covering over the red part of her mouth and nose, a filter designed to make it easier to breathe in the event of smoke and dust. Like I said, amazing.

"Coming, Mei. Can we see the Hell's Kitchen Agency booth first?" I admit, Beelzebeatdown was one of my favorite local Heroes. Graduating top of his class from TSA, Beelzebeatdown didn't have a super flashy Quirk like most Pros, his Quirk made him look like a red devil complete with cloven hooves, curled horns, and crimson red skin, but he made up for it with his insane skills at boxing. He would fight with such precision and speed, he could layout villains who even had strength enhancing Quirks.

"Of course, we can see your favorite hero first. After we make a quick detour." Mei had her signature smile, but something about it was different, like she was restraining it.

"Where are we going?" Mei only grinned at my question and waved me over to join her. We walked past the route that would've taken us to the Hero Agencies, towards where the schools. We had a pattern when we attended the Hero Convention, Agencies then Schools, and every year it was the same pattern. Looking back on it, the change in pattern seemed so obvious in hindsight.

Mei lead me through the crowds, past other teenagers filing in to look at various Hero Schools, and each of the big schools were here. Sanctorum elites dressed in their green and gold robes, depicting either snakes or dragons respectively. Aegis cadets dressed in dark blue bodysuits with grey gloves and boots, a silver kite shield patch marked their shoulders depicting a yellow eagle holding their ranking bars. TSA students dressed the most casually, wearing jeans and t-shirts, but wearing name tags and lanyards identifying their grade, name, and Hero name if they picked it. Last but not least, and easily looking the coolest, Academy X students dressed in either yellow and blue flight suits like you'd see fighter pilots wear, or in more casual blue jeans, yellow t-shirts depicting the school's signature yellow X, and yellow and blue varsity jackets.

Its when I noticed Mei was leading me to the Academy X booth that it began to click with me. Mei introduced me to one of Academy X teachers, a middle aged woman with a striking white mohawk, there was an exchange of pleasantries, then the teacher began talking about Mei's time back in the day as a student in Academy X. The restraint on Mei's smile began to fall away as she turned from the teacher to me, "I initially wanted to wait to tell you and Uncle Ben tonight, but I can't wait that long!" Mei held up an envelope marked with a yellow and blue X, "I've been accepted back into Academy X!"

"That's awesome, Mei!" It was, she put her dream on hold to raise me after my parents died, and now that I was older, she could get back to her dream. "But wait, are you going to have to go through the Hero course from scratch?"

"Not necessarily. I just need to take a few tests to gauge my skills, knowledge of the Quirk laws, physical assessments, then depending on how well I do, they could place me in my old grade level. If that happens, in another two years, I'll have my license and be able to enlist into the Academy's Agency division. I'll be an official Hero."

Oh Mei, if only. "We'd graduate together! You'd be a Pro, and if I get that internship at Oz I could make your own equipment." If only.

"The Academy would normally make any gear or equipment I need, but I would love to see what kind of gear you could make for the return of Mrs. Web!" Mei stood there in front of the Academy X booth, in her costume, a bright smile that radiated confidence. The paperwork and license were just formalities to me because right here and now, my Aunt, the Webslinging Hero Mrs Web, was already a Hero.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur after learning Aunt May could finally realize her dream, even passing by the Hell's Kitchen Agency and listening to Beelzebeatdown recount when he beatdown the Villain Nevermiss didn't match the feeling of the soon to be debut of Mrs. Web. We skipped taking the train as we left the Hero Convention to get something to eat and stretch out the euphoria of the day before we headed home to break the news to Uncle Ben. I wish we took the train, if only we took the train home.

The fast food restaurant was themed liked most of the ones in the city, this one was based around one of oldest Hero Agencies in the city and possibly the first, The Fantastic Agency and it's Fateful Four. A family owned and operated Hero Agency that started out fighting the first emergence of Villains but nowadays has dedicated themselves to studying the evolution of Quirks. The restaurant's staff were dressed in either blue and silver or white and black uniforms, passing out orders themed around the initial four members, like Clobber Burgers, Scortched Chicken strips, Barrier Bubble dessert cakes, and Stretched hotdogs. Its been one of my favorites restaurants since childhood, Mei would always bring me here once a weekend as a kid. We'd eat and she'd tell me stories of all the good the Four did for the city back in the day, back when she was a little girl.

I noticed Mei staring at something behind me, "Kumo, stay put a second." She stood up from her seat across from me, making me turn to look at what she was seeing. Across the street was your generic mom and pop's drugstore, I must have passed it twice a day on my way to and from school, at first it looked like the owner was arguing with a customer but looking harder through the glass doors the customer was aiming something at the owner behind the counter.

I watched my Aunt casually jog across the street towards the drug store, and step inside. The angry customer hide something inside his coat as Mei casually greeted him and owner and went through the aisles like she was casually shopping. Some Pros believed that the very presence of a Hero was enough to deter criminals and Villains, and that was true in some instances, but that wouldn't be the case today, even though Mei was dressed for the part.

Minutes began to pass and it looked like the angry customer was about to leave, but then a Pro Hero arrived on the scene, loudly declaring the criminal release their hostages and surrender. The Pro Hero was known as Gemstone, a member of the Hell's Kitchen Agency, though not as popular as the other Pros of that Agency, she was making waves to be noticed. I learned later that the owner hit a silent alarm when Mei entered the drug store, thinking it'd be best that the Spider themed Hero had backup if things went south, but he didn't think a Hero would show up and escalate things or that the Hero inside wasn't licensed.

The criminal drew the weapon he hide in his coat, and a beam of green energy exploded from the the drugstore like a thunderbolt, people were already turning to watch from Gemstone's boasting and the criminal's abrupt attack only drew more of a crowd. Like her namesake, Gemstone's Quirk was Crystalline, she should change her skin to a jewel-like substance, giving her super human strength and endurance. Against most villains her Quirk could come in very handy, but not against this villain. The beam hit Gemstone's crystal body and splintered inside her, reflecting out of her in random directions, blasting the street, nearby buildings, parked cars, the restaurant I was in with a crowd of onlookers and the back at the drug store. The explosions were nearly deafening.

People in the restaurant screamed amidst the cloud of dust and smoke and began filing out through the back. My ears were ringing, every breath felt like I was swallowing sand, and with my ears tearing up, I could barely discern a person from a bar stool. But the dust began to clear, the ringing eased, and I peaked over the broken widow at the battle in the street. Gemstone was getting back to her feet but in obvious pain, I could see shadows in the dust filled drugstore moving, meaning Mei and the owner had to still be alive, meanwhile the criminal was laughing in awe at the weapon he was holding in his hands.

"Holy crap!" I heard him yell, holding what looked like a weapon from a science fiction movie, "those lab rats let this sit collecting dust in a lab? Forget a convenience store, I shoulda hit a bank with this baby!" The criminal's hands began sparking due to his Quirk, and the weapon hummed to life as he took aim at Gemstone again. "Let see what else this thing can do!"

The criminal's excitement was cut short as lines of webbing snagged Gemstone's shoulders and yanked her away, letting the green beam of energy to blast harmlessly into the street, and somehow less destructive than before. I watched as Mei pulled Gemstone away with the two lines of webbing that she shot from the backs of her hands, Quirk Usage Laws were very strict on using Quirks to harm others even in self defense against villains, but QUL's weren't as strict when using Quirks to help others defensively. As long as Mei didn't use her Quirk to actively hurt this criminal, the law to an extend was on her side.

I heard Mei pointed out that the criminal was either lucky or incredibly stupid to openly attack during the Hero Convention, a day when so many Hero Agencies had gathered in one place. Gemstone agreed but also noted out how far away the Convention was from their current location, and even if other Agencies were receiving the drugstore's alarm, they might be too understaffed to respond. They were on their own until word spread to the Convention and the Pros could arrive.

I remember watching the two of them, as I was covered in dust, wishing I had a Quirk like my parents, like Mei. I'd run out and stand my ground with Mei, and the three of us alone would make this wannabe villain surrender at our combined power. Looking back, its hard to realize it was a year ago when it felt like a lifetime. I was so naive.

Mei fired two lines of webbing at the criminal's feet startling him so Gemstone to close in and attack, but the criminal jumped aside and fired the weapon. The beam surged out towards Mei, but she dodged the beam narrowly, crouching low to the ground as it sailed over her back.

Gemstone, due to her Quirk, was a brawling Hero, using her power to get in close and beat villains into submission like most of the Hell's Kitchen Pros. But the nature of her Quirk put her at such a disadvantage compared to the other Pros, as she closed in the criminal fired, catching her in the face. Gemstone tried to shield her face in the sleeves of her costume to prevent the energy from blasting out but to no avail. Just like before, multiple beams shot out, causing more destruction, one stray beam even caught the ground in front of Mei knocking her back.

What seemed like an eternity passed, but as it turned out it was only five minutes, the round about battle of Mei trying to keep Gemstone from being shot, Gemstone attempting to attack, and the criminal taking pot shot at the two Heroes. Mei was even shot a few times using her body to shield Gemstone from inadvertently causing more destruction. Ten minutes ago, this street looked no different than any other in the city, now it looked like a war zone. Nearby parked cars were burning, the street was littered with craters, and buildings were splashed in scorch marks. I hadn't moved from my hiding spot, my body ached from my crouched position, my throat because to burn from the dust, and the fumes of the smoke began to make my head swim, but I refused to run, I had to see Mei make it through this.

Mei and Gemstone were burned in various parts of their costumes, they were exhausted, but Gemstone looked the worst. In pain, battered, and barely standing. I've thought about this fight so often, I would catch myself thinking of how this could've ended differently, but hindsight did little to help me. If Mei attacked, she could've saved the day, but she'd lose all prospect of being a Hero and a Hero always obeyed the law. If Gemstone reverted to her human form, she's be just as vulnerable to the blasts as Mei, maybe more so if her injuries carried over. All they could do was what they had been doing before, and hope help arrived.

Here it comes, it happened a year ago, but it hurts as bad as if it happened five minutes ago. Everything lead to this and this is what lead me to where I am today.

It began with a beeping sound from the criminal's weapon. I learned much later that every time the weapon fired, it extracted energy from whatever it struck and stored it to be expelled when fully charged. If the fully charged beam struck Gemstone, it would be the same as before only much more devastating, the fractured beams could vaporize whatever they touched, and it looked like the criminal was counting on it. He took aim at building behind the two Heroes, knowing his time was almost up with the whine of police sirens growing in the distance and news helicopters beginning to circle above, and he needed to escape with the newly discovered potential of his weapon intact.

My phone went off in my pocket, no doubt Uncle Ben calling to ask what was keeping Mei and I from coming home or he saw news reports as was calling to make sure we were out of the area. The ringing startled everyone, I panicked to silence it as quickly as possible, taking my eyes off the battle in front of me. The criminal saw his opening and took it, pulling the trigger. Mei broke eye contact with the criminal when she heard the ringing, knowing I was still inside or suspecting I was still inside. Gemstone froze, watching as the beam formed out of the criminal's weapon.

I looked up, seeing the green light grow brighter and felt my stomach sink. I was going to die today. I'd never get to see Mei become the Hero she deserved to be, I'd never get to have a girlfriend, I never even get to have a close nit circle of friends to hang out with after school. I remember closing my eyes and waiting, I remember thinking "it'll be okay, I'll get to see mom and dad again, it'll be okay." A whip snap sound made me open my eyes and the wall of green light was eclipsed by a silhouette.

My Aunt Mei had made a split second decision, and shot a webline at the window where I was hiding and yanked herself into the beam's path, while anchoring herself to the pavement with a webline from her free hand. "It'll be okay, Kumo, I'm here." The beam struck Mei's back, rippling around her, and continuing on it's path into the restaurant but at a smaller volume. I don't even remember who was screaming, either me, Mei, or both of us. I watched as Mei used her own body to take the brunt of the beam, keeping the worst of its destruction from entering the building and bringing it down, or she was doing this just to protect me from the beam.

I watched as Mei's body began to go slack, her grip on the webbing weakening, I reacted without thinking. Mei's body went limp and I stood up, catching her against my chest as she was pushed by the beam. Standing in the path of the beam was like standing in an oven, I couldn't breathe, I shut my eyes to keep them from burning out from the heat, my legs were numb and Mei's weight threw me off balance along with the force of the beam pushing me back as I tried to pull her out of the beam's path. The last thing I remember before I hit the opposite wall, was hoping beyond hope she'd be okay. We'd wake up probably in the hospital, Mei would scold me for not running away, but she's be glad all the same that I'd be okay and probably call me brave for trying to help her. Maybe Gemstone and other members of the Hell's Kitchen Agency would visit the hospital and praise Mei for helping to apprehend the criminal and being mindful of Quirk Usage Laws. With praise from a renowned Hero Agency, she'd be that closer to getting her license and graduating Academy X.

Mei Hisashi, the Webslinging Hero, Mrs. Web would be a Hero. She had to be, right?


	3. Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kumo mourns the death of his Aunt Mei after the villain attack, he discovers that his body had begun to develop a Quirk. With his newly discovered powers, Kumo starts to train his body in the hopes of continuing Mei's dream and maybe find revenge.

But she wouldn't be a Hero, she wouldn't be alright. What happened next is a little hazy to remember in detail, but I'll do my best recall what I can.

The first thing I remember is that I felt like I was floating on air, drifting endlessly through a void. At the same time, I felt so heavy I could barely move, like I was laying under a slab of concrete. I don't know how I got here, but despite the discomfort of being weightless and heavy simultaneously, I felt safe. Nothing to touch me in this nothingness, I could stay here forever, but something in the back of my mind whispered that I shouldn't, that I had more to do. I remember seeing a single green star materialize in my void, its emerald light twinkling in the distance but steadily began to grow brighter. I watched helplessly as the speck of a green star swelled to a massive ball of green fire, my heart racing as I was drawn closer, the weight and heat of its gravity pushing me against the nothing I was floating on.

I felt something snag my shoulders, like a pair of hands struggling to pull me away from the green sun. The weight pressing against it made it impossible for me to look back, I could only watch the incredible feat of strength as I seemed to be moving away from the sun. The sun wouldn't relent, it felt angry to be denied its victim and I felt the pull on my body strain. It seemed hopeless, like the sun would envelope my savior along with me, then I felt the tension on my shoulders shift and instead of being pulled I was being swung which meant that my savior would be the one trapped by the sun.

I tried to yell out but the weight against my body kept me silent, I could only watch as I was suddenly thrown out of the sun's grasp, and as I flew I saw my savior. She was dressed in a blue and red bodysuit, with a spider web style pattern over the red parts, I couldn't see her face because of the mask, but I could feel her smile under the fabric. "It'll be okay, Kumo. I'm here." It was Mrs. Web, and as I flew through my black void, I watched as she was pulled into the green sun, I watched the green flames engulf her.

"Mei!"

I sat up, my eyes being met with a blinding white light. I wasn't floating, I was in a bed, I wasn't heavy, my arms and legs were in braces, I wasn't in a black void, I was in a hospital. A doctor and a nurse came into the room, checking the machines I was hooked up to and checking to make sure I was okay. Behind them was Uncle Ben, standing in his garage uniform, covering in dirt, grime, and grease. He looked like he crawled through the guts of a massive car before walking through the door into my room. His eyes were red, like he had rubbed them raw, he also smelled like smoke. Mei had forbid him from smoking in the house, but at times I would catch him smoking in the backyard, usually whenever he was worried about losing his job because someone showed up with a Quirk that made pieces of equipment obsolete.

As the doctor was addressing Uncle Ben, I noticed two more people standing in the doorway, a female police officer and Beelzebeatdown. I felt myself relax, it was just like had hoped, Mei was fine, which is why I was fine. She'd be lying in the bed next to me, the officer would question her, Beelzebeatdown would praise her for her work helping Gemstone. Ben of course was worried about Mei but once he saw her smile he'd cheer right up. I looked over at the bed next to me, but instead of seeing Mei, I saw Gemstone. She was covered in bandages, gauze covered her eyes, a neck brace kept her head up, and had various tubes plugged into her. If it weren't for the steady beep of her heart rate monitor and slow rise and fall of a pump next to her bed, I would've thought she was dead. But if Gemstone was here, where was...

"Mr. Hisashi, or would you prefer Kumo?", the doctor was talking to me, snapping me off my train of thought.

I remember asking, "Mei, where's Aunt Mei?" instead of answering, thinking that if she was just in another room, she was fine. Any minute now, she'd pop into the room smiling, radiating confidence, and alive.

"I'm sorry, son. She didn't make it."

I was told that after the attack, I was comatose for almost twenty-four hours. They were beginning the worry if I was going to come out given the trauma of the event, in fact they were surprised that I came out of it so quickly. Aside from some burns on my face, my only other injuries were some hairline fractures in my arms and legs from when I was thrown into wall. Mei on the other hand wasn't so lucky.

Mei had not only died saving me but also the building that housed the restaurant we were in, had she not blocked the beam, it would've destroyed a load bearing wall and the occupants in the apartments above would've died along with me. Mei would be posthumously awarded for her bravery and heroics, Pros would give speeches about how she embodied self sacrifice that all Heroes should have, and I didn't care. I just wanted my aunt Mei back.

Beelzebeatdown and the officer with him gave their deepest sympathies and left after I answered some questions regarding the attack mostly about the villain, what he looked like, what his Quirk could be, and what the weapon he was using looked like, apparently he escaped shortly after he shot Mei. Usually the idea of talking with my favorite Pro Hero would've sent me into a fanboy craze, but I felt hollow. I told them both what I could remember, general description of the villain was pretty plain with an average body built, the weapon he had seemed to be powered by electricity and the villain's Quirk was likely electrical based. I didn't have the best view of the fight to give good enough details, only Mei and Gemstone could've helped there, and with Mei dead they'd have to wait until Gemstone recovered and hope she could fill in the blanks.

The hospital wanted to keep me overnight for observation, and Uncle Ben stayed right besides me, sleeping in the chair next to my bed. I couldn't sleep, after what I had dreamed prior, I wanted to do anything but sleep. Laying in my bed in the dark, I scrolled through my phone, looking at the various Hero related news. The attack was covered by a few journalists, some focusing on the property damage, some focusing on Gemstone and how she saved the day single handed, and one or two stories mentioned the death of a civilian. No mention of the Mei by name, nothing about the woman would be a Hero, who saved the life of a teenager, a restaurant full of people, and the apartment complex above it.

Looking back, I remember feeling a spark of rage at the woman in the bed next to me, thinking it was all her fault. If her Quirk was different, if she hadn't been so cocky when she arrived on the scene, if she hadn't responded to the alarm, if she hadn't existed, Mei would still be alive. Almost as quickly as it was lite, I felt that spark of hate extinguish itself. Mei wouldn't want that and it wasn't fair to Gemstone, she did everything she could stop the villain using her Quirk just like a Hero was supposed to do. 

I hit the sleep button on my phone and set it down on the side table next to my bed, my eyes began to tear up as I remembered one of the first lessons Mei had taught me about being a Hero.

"As a Hero, It doesn't matter how small or how great a Quirk is, it is your responsibility to help people." And that's what Gemstone did, its what Mei died doing.

I left the hospital the next day drained and sore, the doctors explained that it would be normal to experience a depressive state after a traumatic event, but I learned later that it wasn't so simple as a depressive state. Uncle Ben and I were quiet as we went home, due to Ben's work schedule I didn't have as tight of a relationship as I did with Mei, to say it was awkward was an understatement.

"Kumo, I've got the rest of the day off." Ben's hands fidgeted nervously, "if you're hungry, I can order some pizza or take out. I'm not as good of a cook as Mei is... was."

I wish I wasn't as closed off back then, he was hurting just as much as I was, "sure, Uncle Ben, some pizza sounds great." I don't think I even looked in his direction as I spoke, heading straight into my room. I was in pain. I was tired and hurt, my body felt like a speed bump and I was surprised I was on my feet for so long. I fell face first into my bed and closed my eyes, for the briefest of instances, I felt as if I was too tired to fall asleep, but then I noticed how darkly lit my room was despite the curtains on my window being open. We left the hospital before noon and according to the clock on my phone, it was now almost midnight, I had slept all day without even realizing it.

I felt an extra bit of guilt was I saw the plate of pizza sitting on my desk, "sorry, Ben" I didn't mean to blow him off all day. Sitting up, my head began to spin from the sudden rush and I realized how hungry I was. Before I knew it, the two slices on the plate were gone and I headed into the kitchen, hungry for more. I'll spare you the details, needless to say, there wasn't much of the box of pizza left after I left the kitchen.

I saw that Uncle Ben had fallen asleep watching tv, right now it there was a news report over the villain attack, specifically Gemstone. The report was how Gemstone had been fired from the Hell's Kitchen Agency for endangering civilians during her attempt to apprehend the villain that she and Mei had fought, the villain had escaped and non-licensed Quirk user had to step in and help her which resulted in her death. Beelzebeatdown didn't comment on the details, just that Gemstone wouldn't be working for his agency anymore.

I remember feeling sorry for Gemstone, and it wouldn't be the last time I'd learn how strict the rules of the world of Pro Heroes could be. It wasn't all punching villains and waving to the camera and crowds, as Gemstone taught me what happened when Heroes failed, you'd be despised and watch as the world turned its back to you, even if you did your best. I shut off the tv and grabbed the blanket off the couch, putting it over my sleeping uncle.

Unable to go back to sleep, I went into the garage where aunt Mei and uncle Ben had set up a small workbench where I could tinker with various projects, either for school or just for fun. Amidst the various scrap metal works, I found a pair of foot braces I built for the boots of Mei's costume that were designed to shoot a synthetic web-like material similar to the stuff Mei made naturally from her Quirk. I thought it would be so cool if Mei could shoot her webbing from her hands and feet, a great way to restrain multiple villains or make a net to catch people, and now they'd sit here and collect dusk. Picking up one of the tools, I found a couple of sketches I had made for Mei, a new visor for her mask with multiple eye lenses to make the wearer look like a spider.

I remember the swell of emotions building up inside me, reliving the attack, Mei's sacrifice, waking up to her gone, the realization that Mei wouldn't get to follow her dream, the dream I had to make Mrs. Web's equipment. Best case scenario, I'd find a new class for my Junior year to try and continue my tinkering hobby, worst case all this would just collect dust. I shut my eyes tights, pushing that wave of emotion back down to keep from crying and falling into a heap. Mei wouldn't want this, she wouldn't want me to wallow in this misery, she'd want me to find a way to push forward, she didn't give up on her dream and she wouldn't want me to give up on mine. "I just need something to focus on."

Gripping the tool in my hand, I turned and swung a fist into the hanging punching bag that Mei casually trained against. I felt my fist hit the leather, then heard a sound I wasn't expecting, it was pouring sand. Opening my eyes, sand was pouring out from around my fist which had punched through the thick leather, "what the hell?" Instinctively, I tried to put up my other fist to close it off while I looked for some duct tape, its when I noticed the stainless steel wrench was crushed in my hand. Setting the mangled tool down, I patched up the hole as best I could, still in a daze at how I could be so strong as to punch through hardened leather or bend steel.

Looking at my arms, I could see that the muscle did seem more developed than before, but it had to be a trick of some kind. I couldn't have gotten that strong overnight, and I couldn't have suddenly developed a Quirk, I vividly remember the doctor's appointment that explained the pinky toe bone that tied to Quirk development through evolution. So what gives? Looking around the empty garage, I spotted the tool chest where Ben and I kept our spare tools which had to weigh a few hundred pounds and put my hands on either side of it. Bracing myself for the weight, I took a few short breathes to prepare, and lifted with my legs. I may as well have been lifting a few milk cartons by how easily the tool box was raised up, if fact I had to stop myself from shoving the tool box through the ceiling, and quietly set it back down. It may have been adhesive residue left over from the tape, but I could've sworn my fingers were stuck to the metal for just a second after I let go setting it down.

Quietly leaving the garage and going back into the house to my room, I fell back into my bed, the weight of the past two days gone and replaced by something else. Looking back at that moment, I realized the feeling was a sense of hope, but I couldn't tell if it was for myself coping with Mei's death or Mei's dream which would later become my own.

The next day was almost a return to normal, I woke up in time to catch Uncle Ben before work, it was awkward but I think he appreciated when I smiled and told him I'd see him after work. A bit after Ben left, I grabbed a notebook that I usually kept for sketches of new ideas for tinkering and headed out to the scrap yard. The scrap yard was a huge empty lot filled with old cars, household appliances, and just discarded metal junk. Supposedly a building was going to be built there but funding ran out or something and they just abandoned all the metal work, and over the years people just dumped their trash here if it was too big or expensive to throw away properly. Most people hated it, but me and aunt Mei loved it, every other week we'd scavenge bits of metal and other scrap for me to tinker with. Today was different though, instead of scavenging, I would be putting this new strength to work.

I started small with a washing machine, grabbing with both hands, I inhaled and lifted. Dirt crumbled off its base as the machine was lifted up, it was as if the weight was just gone. Setting it back down I pulled open my notebook, noting the size and weight, then moved on to something bigger. I found a car that looked like it was cut in half and moved the rear half, grabbing under the bumper, I figured it would be fairly heavier than a tool chest or washing machine but no, a little more awkward to balance while picking up and setting down but nothing too difficult. I checked the front half and it still had its engine in place, this would be the real test at least for today. Grabbing the front bumper, I felt myself strain at first but slowly the front half of the car began to rise up, first just off the ground then at eye level then, with my arms burning, I raised the car above my head. I laughed, yesterday I didn't think I'd ever find a reason to do so again, yet here I was, laughing in childlike glee while holding half a car over my head.

I set the car down as gently as I could but my arms were trembling from the exertion and the car fell back to the ground with a crash, "holy crap, this is incredible." The muscles in my arms were burning, my hands were shaking, but I felt amazing like I did when Mei and I went to the Hero convention. Looking down at my legs, I wondered if my new strength was just tied to my arms, looking up the blank side of the buildings that surrounded the scrap yard, I aimed for a balcony about four floors above me and jumped. I will admit, gauging strength to pick up something heavy is much easier than gauging a jump. I overshot my mark and realized the error in falling over a junk lot full of discarded scrap metal, I may have panicked a little bit. "Oh crap!" Okay, I panicked more than a little, reaching out for any kind of ledge or hold to grab onto. I felt my hand snag on something and held on for dear life, pulling my eyes away from the lot below me, I looked to see what I had grabbed only I wasn't holding onto anything. My fingertips on one hand were connected to surface of the wall and only the wall, bracing my feet I gingerly put my other hand against the wall and felt my fingertips grab hold of the surface.

So it turns out I wasn't imagining it last night, my fingers were sticking to the tool chest, and now here I was, hanging off the side of building, eight and a half stories up. Slowly I peeled my hand off the wall and slowly began to climb down in a slow methodical crawling motion until my feet touched the ground. So I had super strength and adhesive fingertips, not the most unusual Quirk I've seen but I had to admit it was very cool. Sitting on the car half I had just picked up, I jotted down more notes, my lifting and jumping strengths, my adhesive fingers, along with projections of how strong I could actually get if I started working out. With the day still young, I closed my note book and left the scrap yard lot and headed to nearby fast food place for some lunch.

With food in my stomach and my arms beginning to relax after their sudden work out, I stayed inside the restaurant looking through my phone to see if any Heroes or Villains had Quirks similar to mine, so far there were none. Super strength was fairly common but came in a wide variety from muscle density to muscle regeneration to even skin hardening, so it was tricky to narrow it down. Adhesive fingers was pretty rare and every time I thought I found a match the variety was wrong, I wasn't secreting glue or adhesive liquids, my fingers weren't magnetic due to testing them on the paper burger wrapper, the wooden table, or the plastic cup, and I didn't have suction cups. I did find out something interesting while researching Quirks related to 'crawling on walls' and it was related to bugs, it turned out that spiders had microscopic hairs on their legs with tiny hooks that could slip through the spaces between molecules, its what allows them to climb up even the smoothest of surfaces. A sudden realization struck me, a memory that almost forgotten from childhood.

When I was little, Mei would use her Quirk to make me swings and hammocks for me to play with, "no, Kumo, you can't keep it. Its just like a real spider web, it'll dissolve away after an hour of so and I can't keep making it forever."

"Eww!" I remember laughing, but still would enjoy the swings, "spiders are icky, aunt Mei."

"They may be a little gross or scary to look at, but they're incredible hunters and amazing craftsmen. They can climb walls, jump really high, and even carry more than a hundred times their own body weight."

"Wow, aunt Mei, when you become a Pro, you should call yourself Spider-Girl or Spider-Woman, and hunt down the Villains of the city!"

Mei laughed, "oh I thought about that when we were allowed to pick Hero names in school, but the teacher in charge of supervising said spiders were too scary and gross and people wouldn't like a Pro Hero to be named after one. So I changed it to reflect just my Quirk, and now I'm Mrs. Web."

"Yeah! Mrs. Web is gonna be the coolest Hero!" I remember pumping my fist in the air triumphantly.

I snapped back to the present, wiping my eyes before the tears could properly form. If the webbing Mei could create from her hands was similar to spider webs, it still didn't explain how I got spider like powers, unless. "Holy crap, those lab rats let this sit collecting dust in a lab?" The criminal's words echoed through my head from the days before, it wasn't a weapon he had, it was something from a lab.

I started searching through news reports of science experiments mostly focusing on Quirk transference or duplication, I was surprised to find one, dated ten years ago. "CEO of Oz Industries funds research to duplicate Quirks for emergency responders." Attached to the article was a picture of the CEO of Oz Industries, Noman Ozwell, and a woman in a lab coat, both were standing on either side of the weapon I saw the criminal use in the street. I found a follow up article dated five years ago, "Oz Industries cuts funding from Quirk duplication research after allegations of unethical human experimentation", I read on that the lab was shut down and investigated by the police, several scientists were arrested and most of the equipment was seized, but most wasn't all. So the criminal that killed Mei had raided the abandoned lab and thought he found a super weapon, but it was actually a device that could transfer Quirks, and now he was running around with it, pretending to be a villain. I felt my fist clench under the table as I looked at my phone screen, a device that was going to help save lives and he used it to end one and planned to do it again. The address of the lab was pretty easy to find online, and with this new Quirk I could easily stop him from raiding more equipment from the lab if he hadn't already.

"Spiders are incredible hunters, huh, aunt Mei? Let's find out."

A train ride later and I was standing just outside the lab, it looked like a renovated warehouse, fairly unremarkable from the outside except for the police tape marking the entrance. The police tape itself looked fairly new, which meant the police had already figured out where the weapon came from, which was good. I could just sit back and watch for the criminal, if he showed up and went in for more equipment I could call the police and maybe teach him a lesson or two while I waited for them to arrive and arrest him. 

Hours began to pass, and just when I thought of heading home and trying again tomorrow, a semi pulled into the parking lot of the lab. Ducking out of sight behind an abandoned car, I watched as two people climbed out of the cab, a tall woman with a weird hairstyle wearing a what looked like an expensive business suit, and the criminal from the attack. My phone was out and I was in the process of dialing 911 when something the two said nearly made my heart stop from shock. Even from this distance, I could just make out their conversation.

"This is where I found it, it used to by a just a fancy laser pointer, but with my overcharge Quirk it can carve through a safe like butter." The man said as he followed the woman to the lab's front door but seemed to hesitate at the police tape, "are you sure its okay to come back here? The police looking all over the city for me after I killed that woman and beat Gemstone."

"We will not be disturbed by police", the woman spoke with a thick Russian accent as she walked through the police tape, breaking through it with ease, "my employer has planted many loyal operatives in police departments throughout the city. We would easily be forewarned. Now come."

"Whatever you say, babe."

My thumb hovered over the call button before exiting out of the keypad. The woman was working for someone who had dirty cops working for him, even if I did call the police, chances are they would just leave before the police showed up, if they even did. I watched the man and woman entered the lab and quietly followed them, rather than enter the door, I looked at the wall and gently pressed my hand against it, then the other hand above it, slowly I started to climb up until I reached the roof. I managed to find a skylight and watched as the man and the woman were loading various equipment into the container the semi was hauling, they weren't taking everything like I thought they would, computers, various containers of chemicals, a boxes full of what looked like paper, possibly lab notes, but left the expensive looking equipment untouched.

Taking my phone back out, I started taking pictures as they moved about below me, maybe if I showed them to a Pro Hero, they could work with the police they trusted. I snapped pictures of the man and woman, the equipment and supplies they were taking, hoping it would be enough for a Pro to act. 

The woman had closed the door to the container and rejoined the man in the lab, "that is all your sister requested, I will inform my employer that he can now begin using his connections to retrieve the rest. Three months should be plenty of time for your sister to prepare her laboratory in Sparrow's." The woman unbuttoned her suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, revealing the elaborate tattoos that covered her forearms, "now all that is left is to cover loose ends." The woman's skin began to smoke and change from smooth to rock-like as swung her fist into one of the support columns.

The whole warehouse shook from the impact and I lost my footing, only instead of falling on the graveled roof, I fell through the skylight, landing on a table right in front of the two criminals.

"The hell? Its just a kid?" The man had a gun out, not the one he used against Gemstone, but a real gun, pointed right at me. But now that I was finally close enough, I got a good look at both of them. He was average height but portly, from the bags under his eyes and shadow growing around his mouth gave the impression he hadn't had a decent nights sleep since the attack and was always on the move. The woman on the other hand was the complete opposite, she was almost seven feet tall, dressed in what was possibly a tailor made suit but even that did little to hide her muscle, the exposed skin of her arms and knuckles were covered in elaborate tattoos of animals, human skulls, and words written in Russian and judging from what looked like a cutesy rhino that was peaking up from her shirt's collar, her entire torso could possibly be covered. From a distance, I thought the woman had a horn growing out of her forehead, but instead it was a her hair, dyed silver and styled to point upwards like a curved spike while the rest of her hair was dark brown and tied back into a bun.

While the man was the starting point that set me on my path to becoming Arachnid, Ortega Otto, as I found out later, wouldn't be that instrumental to my future as I believed. He was a thug who got lucky digging through trash, about as far from a criminal mastermind or super villain as they come, in fact this would be the last time I'd see him alive. The woman on the other hand, Svetlana Romanov, an alleged enforcer for a hidden organization of Villains, I'd be seeing more of her soon.

Svetlana stepped forward, pushing the gun in the Ortega's hand downward "that won't be necessary, comrade. It is only a child." Stopping just short of me as I fell off the table, the massive woman reached down and picked up my phone which had fell from my hand in the fall. "I don't know why you are here, child. But it is dangerous to take pictures like these." I watched helplessly as Svetlana deleted the photos I took, one by one, then powered off my phone, she picked me up with one hand and stuffed it into my jean's pocket. "There, no harm done, da?"

All my evidence was gone, I wouldn't be able to prove there involvement, or identify them to the police or Pro Heroes. In hindsight, I should've stayed quiet, the villain would've let me go and that would be the end of it. But the man who killed my aunt was six feet in front of me, and all the pain and emotions I buried suddenly bubbled to the surface. Ortega had put his pistol back into his coat, and I lunged. I curled up my fist and prepared to throw a full force punch right into his face, "you killed my aunt, you bastard!" Just before my fist reached Ortega, a strong force pulled me away. Svetlana had grabbed me at the last second and lifted me up by the scruff of my shirt like an ill behaving kitten.

"You're aunt? That bitch who got in the way of my stick up? Who teamed up with Gemstone? I did nothing to her kid, she got herself killed. Its what happens when you meddle in other people's business." Ortega redrew his pistol and pointed it right at my head, "just like you just did, kid."

A massive hand appeared in front of my face just as the trigger was pulled, "you will not shoot this child. It would be very bad for my employer if a child tied to the murder you committed was found dead from a gunshot wound in the lab you stole technology from." Svetlana dropped the bullet in her hand, "however, a vendetta is not easily forgotten and will be a problem if ignored." 

I felt her hand tighten its grip, and Svetlana hurled me like a softball across the lab, my back impacting against another support column. I don't know if it was the pain or the velocity I was thrown at that nearly caused me to black out. The room began to spin as I watched a large shape walk towards me, followed by the crumbling of concrete and the groaning of metal. My vision came back into focus as Svetlana punched another support column, her strength enhancing Quirk easily causing the concrete to crumble into dust at the impact.

"I thought you said we couldn't kill the kid?"

"I said said not to shoot him, I never said not to kill him."

I struggled to stand up as I watched the two villains leave the warehouse, then there was another impact of Svetlana's fist hitting the wall, right where a metal frame must have been, because right then, the sounds of groaning metal grew louder and the two story warehouse that was converted into a lab collapsed. I remember looking up as the ceiling fell towards me, thinking this is it, two days after Uncle Ben lost his wife, his nephew would be found dead, under the assumption of playing in a condemned warehouse. "I'm sorry uncle Ben, sorry aunt Mei," was my last thought before I was engulfed in dust and darkness.


	4. Responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kumo barely survived his first encounter with a real Villain, Svetlana "The Rhino" Romanov, but now he has an idea of who and what he's up against. With his relationship with uncle Ben being strained, Kumo tries to follow the rules and report what he knows to the Hell's Kitchen Hero agency since he can't trust the police, but learns that even Heroes can have limits.

As you can imagine, since I'm telling you this story that took place a year ago, I didn't die from the warehouse collapse, but boy did I think I was going to. My arms and legs burned under the weight of the ceiling, I wasn't that physically active as a teenager, I sat at my computer playing games, reading books, and tinkering in the garage. Today was the most physically exertion I ever did in my life, and my body was hating me for it, but it was either use what strength I had or be crushed. It was dark outside so it was hard to see if their were any openings nearby, but I could feel a draft of summer air and began crawling toward it. My back dragging along the floor as my hands pulled me along while holding up sections of the broken ceiling with my hands and feet until I could see a section of the ceiling that fell unevenly and created a small opening just big enough to crawl through.

My face was covered in dust and sweat as I crawled through the opening and out of the rubble, the hot night air hit my face and I laughed lightly to myself, possibly from the adrenaline rush of nearly dying. Slowly I began to compose myself as I looked around, the truck was gone as were Ortega and Svetlana, the whole warehouse was leveled, and I could hear sirens in the distance. My body ached from the sudden work out, but I pushed on, climbing down from the rubble and hobbling as fast as I could to the train stop. While resting in the train, I took a moment to test what all hurt, my back hurt from hitting that pillar but I could still walk which was a good sign that it wasn't broken, my arms and legs felt like jelly but I could still move my fingers and toes. I was dirty, covered head to toe in dust, but nothing felt broken and I wasn't bleeding, aside from some bruises starting to form on my hands and neck, I appeared to be okay.

After the train stopped, I hobbled home and found the lights on, uncle Ben was home before me which I was hoping to get avoid. Unlocking the front door, I tried to quietly slip inside the house, only to find my uncle standing right there, waiting for me. "Where were you?"

I opened my mouth to come clean about my newly discovered Quirk, about testing it in the scrap yard Mei and I would frequent, then got distracted by the childish idea of revenge that had almost cost me my life. I couldn't do it, Ben was already somewhat resentful of Quirks, he never said it, but there were times when I would overhear him and Mei argue about her dream of going Pro instead of finding a regular job, there's no way he'd support a nephew who had the same dream to go out and risk his life every day like Mei planned to. Not to mention, Ben had just lost his wife on top of his brother and sister in-law, my parents, ten years ago, and I don't think he'd appreciate the idea of the last member of his family running out into danger. "I was fooling around in the scrap yard, you know the one Mei and I would go to? I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit and I lost track of time, I'm sorry."

Ben looked me good and hard in the eye, "Kumo, I don't want you running around some isolate lot, alone. Not after what happened." He reached past me, closing and locking the front door, "I understand you don't want to go stir crazy. When my brother, your father, died, I did everything I could to keep my mind off it. I took job after job, anything that could keep me busy, but that wasn't fair to Richard, it wasn't fair to Mei, and it wasn't fair to you." Ben fidgeted with his hands, "you can't put off Mei's passing so easily as to go to the scrap yard and punch old cars and washing machines. You will have to face it."

I wiped my eyes, trying to hold back the tears, Ben was right of course. Running out to fight Mei's killer wouldn't bring her back and honoring her memory would matter very little to Ben if I had been killed. "I'm sorry. I'll stay home until school starts." I turned and walked past Ben, but felt his hand on my shoulder.

"I didn't say that. If you need to get out of the house for a bit, that's okay, just stay in some public areas. No empty lots or shortcuts through alleys, things like that." Ben patted my shoulder reassuringly, "we'll make it through this, together. Just like working on a car or on your tinkering projects, it'll get done..."

"It just takes some time." I finished Ben's old motto, and he was right of course, there would be time to heal and time to figure out what I was going to do with my Quirk. 'Three months should be plenty of time for your sister to prepare her laboratory in Sparrow's', that's what the woman had said, there would also be time to find a way to avenge Mei without putting my life on the line.

I spent the next week staying home to give uncle Ben some piece of mind while also researching more on the lab that was now reduced to rubble, it was in the same vein of research as what the Fateful Four began to study, various forms of Quirk manifestation and evolution as well as transference and duplication. The main crux of the research was to give Quirks to Quirkless people or better assign Quirks to specific job fields, like giving a healing Quirk to nurses and doctors, water or fire resistant Quirks to firefighters, or super strength to construction workers. The idea was that a machine would siphon samples of DNA that composed a Quirk, and steadily over an exposure period, would be reintroduced to a subject to receive said Quirk. In theory, it was brilliant and the researched showed promise, but the results were too minuscule to cover the cost of the research, I think that's when the unethical experiments occurred. As great as this would be for rescue and construction services, it could be a living nightmare to Villains with more money than morals, a thug like Ortega could change his simple electrical overcharge Quirk for something more powerful, Svetlana could duplicate her strength enhancing Quirk and lead an army as equally strong as her. The number of Villains could explode just from the idea of selling dangerous Quirks.

I felt my muscles tighten as I put all this together, trying to force myself to relax, it wasn't going to do me or uncle Ben any good if I ran out into the night trying to track down Svetlana or her employer and stop them, after all I wasn't a Hero, "but I know who is."

I left the house and headed into the city, towards the Hero Agency I wish I was visiting on better circumstances. The building was red brick with bars on the windows, at four stories tall, it looked like a fire station was converted into a prison. The red and yellow sign over the door read Hell's Kitchen Agency, the H was designed to look like it had devil horns while the Y had a pointed tail, on either side of the door were two old torches that were unlit during the day. Taking a deep breath, I walked inside.

I've never been inside a Hero Agency before, I was expecting giant computers monitoring crime, glass cases of uniforms, trophies on display taken from defeated villains, but this looked like the reception office to a dentist. Posters of the Agency's Pros decorated the walls, magazines were stacked on a coffee table near a couch and a few chairs, there was even a receptionist typing away on a computer, "can I help you, sir?" She asked, taking her eyes off the screen for just a second.

"I'm looking to speak with... uhm, Beelzebeatdown."

"BD isn't here right now, can I take a message?" Said a voice behind the receptionist, coming down the stairs.

Even though I was torn between vengeance and justice for Mei, this was the first time I got to talk one on one with a Pro Hero since the hospital, so I had to control myself with who I was talking to. The third most popular Pro of the Hell's Kitchen Agency, the Undefeated Hero; Dragon Fist. He was dressed in a gold and green sleeveless bodysuit that showed off how toned his body was underneath, the green collar of his suit folded up into a hood that made him look like a cobra while the top of his hood blended in with a mask that gave his face a reptilian look from the nose up. Shown off in all their glory were Dragon Fist's signature weapons the only skin the wasn't contained by his costume besides his mouth and neck, a pair of green scaled arms that ended with three fingers each tipped with a golden claw. Dragon Fist had earned the title of Undefeated when he single handedly subdued a dozen or so villains that had broken out of prison back when he was just a sidekick, sometimes I'd see forums on the internet dedicating solely to hating him either because his father was a recently arrested corrupt business man or because they didn't like how his Quirk revolved around his skill at martial arts. I never paid too much attention to those forums, those people made no sense to me.

"Oh, Dragon Fist, hi." I nervously shook the Hero's scaled hand, even I couldn't get over how weird it felt to touch his reptilian hand. "My name is Kumo, Beelzebeatdown met with me in the hospital a week ago. I was hoping to talk to him."

Dragon Fist nodded "ah right, that whole incident. Sorry about your aunt, from the way Gemstone told it, if she wasn't there that situation could've been a lot worse." He pointed a thumb at the stairs behind him, "come on upstairs, we'll talk in the office." 

I followed the Pro up the stairs, second floor looked like a training dojo where a trio of sidekicks were training, a woman with his right arm made entirely of ice, a cat woman with long flowing hair made of fire, and a woman whose arms were merged together forming a long slender silver blade. Watching the three train so intensely when they looked not so much older than me, I had to admit, it was pretty inspiring. Third floor looked like your ordinary office, complete with various desks for the Pros and their sidekicks, although one desk of the four was completely vacant. I sat down at the desk pointed out by Dragon Fist, it was decorated with little Chinese dragon figures, paper dragons, and even had some drawings of Dragon Fist, likely given to him by fans.

"Beelzebeatdown is off on patrol right now, but if you feel comfortable enough, you can tell me and I will try to help to the best of my abilities." Dragon Fist walked around, sitting at his desk, giving off the vibe of a school counselor. "I'm all ears."

While I fully planned on walking into the Hell's Kitchen Agency and telling Beelzebeatdown or any Pro about what I had heard in the lab, it was an entirely different sensation to be right on the cusp of telling someone what I had heard. "I think I remember more about the Villain who attacked my aunt and Gemstone last week. I also have an idea of where he got the weapon that killed my aunt."

Dragon Fist sat up a little straighter, it was nice to see that he took the notion seriously. "Oh? Well, tell me what you can."

And so, little by little, I began to tell Dragon Fist what I saw in the lab, dancing around the subject of how I got this information and keeping mention of my newly developed Quirk out of the conversation.

"I see, you saw an old news article while doing research for a school project, and recognized the weapon. You went to the lab and saw the man who killed your aunt, along with a woman, go into the lab and steal some equipment, then destroyed the lab and fled." Dragon Fist turned his attention from me as he typed away at his computer, watching type with his claws, my mind drifted to the idea of how many keyboards he's possibly ruined because of his claws. "You didn't happen to get any evidence while this happened? Photos, videos, or eye witnesses?"

I bit my lip, I knew he'd ask for solid evidence and it was all the more infuriating to know that I had evidence but the woman at the lab erased it. Of course from the story I just told, I couldn't say that, "no, I didn't think to take pictures or a video. I was just kind of..." I bit the bullet and said the word he was probably expecting me to say, "scared, when they showed up."

Dragon Fist nodded, his eyes now focused on the computer screen, "that's perfectly understandable. Coming face to face with Villains is a scary experience, even for Pros, more so for people without Quirks." He turned the computer screen to face me, and I saw a new photo of the lab reduced to ruins. "But, silver lining you stayed hidden and just watched, if they had caught you, we could be finding your body in all that mess."

I felt my shoulders sink, "so there's nothing your agency can do?"

Dragon Fist turned the computer screen back to face him, "I don't know what you expect us to do. We have no evidence of the Villains committing a crime but your word, and any evidence is either stolen or destroyed. I know the media and big time Pros like to report that all we do is run out into the night and catch Villains, but the reality of it is we're as limited by the law as police officers." Dragon Fist leaned back in his chair, putting his clawed hands behind his head, "Pro Heroes need a license in order to use their Quirks when fighting Villains, its very similar to how people need a license to drive a car or own a gun. You're in possession of a potentially destructive force, and the city needs to know you're responsible before it can allow you to use it. Now in some countries like Japan, Quirk laws are so strict that even using a Quirk in self defense or the defense of others without a license can result in a fine and maybe jail time. Here in America, the laws are little more flexible in regards to self defense Quirk use without a license, but even then it can result in a legal circus under the best circumstances because of situations just like this."

I looked up at Dragon Fist and found him looking right at me, his clawed fingers interlinked, "a kid sees the news, their parent who is a Hero or their favorite Pro Hero was just killed by a Villain, and all that emotional turmoil inside boils to the surface and they want revenge. They run out and try to pick a fight with the first Quirk user who resembles the Villain that took their parent or idol. Best case scenario, another Pro or someone gives that kid a talking to, they calm down and grieve, and learn to move on with their lives. Worst case scenario, that Villain or a Villain finds the kid, and the city mourns unnecessary loss on top of a tragedy."

"An' nobody wants that, kid", called a voice from behind me. Turning around, another Pro Hero of the Hell's Kitchen Agency had stepped into the office, the Community Hero; Unbreakable. He was called the Community Hero because out of most of the Heroes in the city, Unbreakable would help out the various neighborhoods in his district in more ways than just beating Villains. He would help people with less glamorous odd jobs, like helping to clean up parks, fixing broken kitchen cabinets, even going to some schools to speak about Quirk use and what it meant to be a Hero. It's no wonder he was second most popular Hero of the agency behind Beelzebeatdown. "What's going on, DF? You taking in a new sidekick? That's gonna break Dragonette's heart."

Dragon Fist waved off the notion, "nah, nothing like that. Mr. Hisashi here just wanted to talk to Beelzebeatdown about some info he had on the Villain from the attack last week."

Unbreakable stepped over to the desk next to Dragon Fist's and sat down on the edge, now that I could see him up close and not on tv, I could take in just how big he was. I stood at five feet eleven inches, but Unbreakable looked like he was almost as big as the woman he tried to bury me in the lab the other night. He didn't wear a regular Hero costume, but a bright yellow t-shirt, blue jeans, and boots. Most notable about his outfit was the pair of chains wrapped around his chest to form an X, he also had chains wrapped around his wrists and waist. "Zat right? Let me guess, you think you found the guy who killed your aunt and you want to go out and take him down, or at the very least point a Pro at him and watch him get taken down?"

He was pretty spot on, I got the feeling it was because of all the speeches Unbreakable gave to various schools in the city, he was able to read young adults so well. "Yeah, pretty much."

Unbreakable nodded, folding his arms and causing his chains to jingle, "you got a Quirk, kid?" Still unsure if I should bring up my newly developed Quirk, I decided to play it safe and shook my head at Unbreakable's question. "Hmmm, well in any case. Let me tell you a little story I know."

Dragon Fist let out an audible groan, but he was also grinning, "oh boy, now you're in for it."

I looked back at Unbreakable who acted like he ignored Dragon Fist's comment, "long time ago, before the city was peppered with Hero Agencies, there was a street gang full of delinquent kids. The gang loved to do whatever they wanted, extort people for money, use their Quirks freely, and sometimes go to war with other gangs. This particular gang had a kid about your age who was the meanest little punk you'd ever did see, worst of all was his Quirk that made him think he was damn invincible, started calling himself The Crusher." Unbreakable stopped his story when Dragon Fist snorted into his fist, in a pitiful attempt to contain a laugh, "yeah it sounds corny now, but maybe the kid thought it was a cool and intimidating name at the time. Anyway, Crusher," Unbreakable shot Dragon Fist a look to see if he'd laugh again, "starts to think he can do anything, he wants to be some kinda kingpin of the neighborhood. So he starts fighting cops when they show up to chase his gang away. One day though, a Pro showed up in the neighborhood, and calls Crusher out, and says 'if I beat you, you turn yourself in, if I lose, no Pro will ever bother you again'. Crusher agreed to the terms, his Quirk made him invincible after all."

I looked over at Dragon Fist who was reclined in his chair, grinning at the story like he had heard it dozens of time, then I looked back at Unbreakable, "so what happened?"

Unbreakable grinned, like he was waiting for his audience to ask the question, "the fight ended in two hits. The Pro threw a right hook right into Crusher's nose and he hit the pavement like a sack of spuds. See, Crusher's Quirk allowed his body to grow denser the longer he exerted his strength, problem is it takes a few rounds before it can build up to be useful, and this Pro hit fast and hard. Crusher woke up in prison, his gang even sold him out to get lighter sentences, and he got to spend his eighteenth birthday behind bars and alone. Years passed and Crusher began to reflect on how he used his Quirk for attention and all it did make him alone, so he served his time, got out on good behavior and only one person was waiting for him, the Pro that laid his butt out all those years ago. The Pro gave Crusher a choice, he could enroll at a Hero school or give up ever using his Quirk in public again, and if he didn't like either of those, the Pro was ready for round two."

I could see where the story was going, but I was enjoying the story almost as much as Unbreakable enjoyed telling it. "So what did Crusher do?"

"Well, his parents stopped caring about him when he was kid, the gang that treated him like family had abandoned him, and the only other person that ever gave him a second thought was standing there giving Crusher a choice." Unbreakable tried to casually wipes his eye, "Crusher went to the school at TSA, it wasn't easy, nearly every student thought he would just turn back to his old ways an' be a Villain, but Crusher graduated, got his license, an' new name to be proud of that was much cooler than his original name, and he went to work for the Pro that gave him a second chance."

Dragon Fist gave a golf clap when Unbreakable finished his story, "I keep telling ya, you gotta pass that story up to Hollywood and get them to make a movie out it."

Unbreakable waved it off, "I make plenty of money to live comfortably, I don't need to be a movie star." He turned back to address me, "so you understand, kid?"

I nodded, "I shouldn't use my Quirk for my own benefit? I know, I don't have a Quirk, but my aunt always said 'it's a Hero's responsibility to use their Quirk to help others, no matter how great or small it was', but I guess that applies to anyone with a Quirk."

Unbreakable nodded his head , "'a Hero's responsibility', oh I like that. Sounds like your aunt was a smart lady, again I'm sorry for your loss. That's some good advice, you hang on to it, and you'll be on the road to being a great hero and do your aunt proud."

I wiped my eyes on my shirt sleeve, "I can't be a Hero, I don't have a Quirk."

The Pro Hero passed me a tissue, his chains jingling. Up close, I noticed the chains looked like the one the police would put on Villains that were super strong. "Anyone can be a hero, kid. A hero can be a teacher, doctor, or neighbor, someone whose an inspiration to help others and encourages others to do the same. Now for Hero as in with a capital 'H', a Quirk does help and is sometimes required, but you don't have to worry about that."

I took the tissue, wiping my eyes properly. I'll admit, the wind was taken out of my sails, I knew Heroes had rules to follow about dealing with crimes but I didn't know just how strict they were. "Well, I'm sorry to come by and waste your time." I tossed the wadded up tissue into the trashcan by Dragon Fist's desk and stood up to leave.

"Hold on, kid." Dragon Fist began typing away at his computer, drawing my attention back, "I said Heroes can't run out into the night and beat down the Villain who killed your aunt, but if you do have information say a physical description of the two Villains you saw, name, or even Quirk description. We can pass that information along to the police and work in collaboration with them if they come across reports of those Villains."

I remembered the words of the woman, how their boss would the keep police from investigating the lab. I wanted to weigh the odds, see if it was worth risking the crooked police finding out or if the Pros would pass the information along to police officers they trusted. I believed that statistically, there was no way all the police could be corrupt, but I would later learn there would only need to be a handful in order to get Svetlana's employer what they needed. I gave Dragon Fist a description of both the man and the woman I saw at the lab, along with their Quirk descriptions, and watched as Dragon Fist typed in the descriptions into the police's record of Villains.

"Okay, now if there is a match, we can pass the information onto the police or send them a notification to update one of there files. If they have warrants, the police will work with us to bring them in, if not they'll keep an eye out for anyone matching their descriptions." Dragon Fist stood up from his seat, "see, no time wasted, and you did some good with what you were able to do."

I felt a smile tug on the corner of my mouth, maybe I didn't need to run out into the night and fight villains with my new Quirk, maybe this was enough. I shook Dragon Fist and Unbreakable's hands, thanked them both for hearing me out and giving me some sense of closure. As I left the agency, I felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders, I could focus on school coming up, and just put the Villains and their plans out of my mind and leave them to the Pro Heroes. Maybe I could train at a gym in the remaining weeks at a gym, then when I finished my Junior year in high school I could 'miraculously' discover a late blooming Quirk and enlist into the Hero course for Academy X. By then, Ben would've had time to properly grieve and move on, and maybe he'd even be proud of me for carrying on Mei's dream of being a Hero.

As I rode the train back to my side of town, my mind couldn't help but linger on Mei's motto, but I wasn't a Hero, not yet anyway so it shouldn't apply to me. I managed to get home in time before Ben got off of work, using the time to touch up on some projects I had intended to finish before school started but forgotten due the drama of recent events. It felt good to work on these tinkering projects again. The rest of the evening resembled a return to normal with uncle Ben coming home bringing fast food for dinner, I offered to use some spare cash he had to go grocery shopping the next day so we wouldn't have to eat out every night, I think he liked that. Listening to the tv as we ate, Ben and I caught a report of a body found in a alley downtown, identified as the man who took Mei Hisashi away from us. 

His name was Ortega Otto, a small time thug with a Quirk that allowed him to overcharge electrical systems, often used to overload ATMs or the alarm systems for cars. Ortega was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in what was believed to be deal gone bad. It was likely that Ortega was attempting to sell the technology he had stolen and someone thought it'd be easier to kill him rather than pay him.

"Hmmm, so there is some justice in the world." Uncle Ben muttered under his breath, in between a bite of food.

I focused all my attention onto the tv, my mind recalling I had given his description to the Hell's Kitchen agency who had passed it along to the police, then I remembered the woman's words when I tried to attack him in the lab. 'A vendetta is not easily forgotten, and will be a problem if ignored', did she kill him after I reported him to the police? It made sense in a way, Mei's murderer was dead, I'd feel no need to seek him out, and the police would close the initial case on looking for him, everyone wins.

I had a hard time turning in for the night, my mind abuzz from the news report. The man who murdered Mei was dead but the technology that gave me a Quirk was still out in the wind, and the woman's boss was still collecting it for some purpose. I tried to quiet my mind, it wasn't my problem anymore, it was a job for the police and the Heroes, they would investigate Ortega's murder and work to find the stolen technology. It was out of my hands and I could move on with my life.

Or so I thought.


	5. Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three months have passed since the death of his aunt's killer, Kumo has trained his body to handle his newly developed Quirk while burying himself in his usual studies. Even though he's told himself to leave it to the Pros, not a day has passed that he hasn't wondered about the project, hinted at by Svetlana which by now has reached it's deadline.

Fall had gripped the city, leaves were blown about by the passing cars, the air was getting more chilly, and schools were packed with fresh faced students. I was one of them, right into the junior year of my high school, another face in the crowd and as far as anyone knew, Quirkless. Even though I was the only Quirkless student in my class this year, nearly everyone was aiming to enroll in one of local Hero Schools either after graduation or if they scored well during the mid-term. I remember hearing things were different in Japan, that you could enroll in a Hero school right after middle school if you scored high enough on some tests, must be great. Then again, with the way the Hero school systems worked here in the states, they were more akin to college rather than just high school. It allowed people to enroll after high school or before if tests were passed. I've been toying with the idea of applying for the mid term Hero aptitude test, it wouldn't be completely unheard of for someone Quirkless to apply to a Hero school, especially if I applied to the Support course, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interesting in the Hero courses. 

Since the start of August, I had been working out at a gym built for Quirk users and Quirkless, though since I still wasn't sure about revealing my Quirk I stayed in the Quirkless section of the gym using the 'normal' weights and dumbbells. I was strong enough to lift a car, but I used the workouts as a way to gauge my strength and help my body get used to the new level of exertion it could take. As I trained, my stamina lasted longer, my body grew stronger, my reflexes got faster, and I began to record it all in my journal. In almost three months, I went from a fairly in shape high school student to a toned Hero in the making with enough strength and speed to probably go head to head with some Pros. I admit, I was excited to put my newly developed Quirk to the test, but I couldn't rush it, I still needed more training, especially with what had been happening in the city for the past month.

People have been disappearing since mid-September. At first it was homeless shelters noticing regulars disappear, then a business would report someone not showing up for work, a kid would go missing taking a shortcut to or from school. Soon, even some small time Pros or sidekicks went missing, I remember seeing a report the other week that one of the sidekicks of the Hell's Kitchen Agency went to visit Gemstone and found the place hadn't been touched in weeks. Pros were on patrol more often, sidekicks and interns stayed inside agencies, villains even started getting more and more brazen. Ever since Ortega Otto was found dead, I couldn't help but not think of his and that woman's plans with the stolen Quirk research and tech. I also didn't like the correlation of missing people occurring around the same time as they neared their three month deadline.

True to my word, I stayed back and let the Pros handle the villains while I focused on school, as hard as that was knowing I had the power to help but not act on it. Instead, I put my frustration into my projects, tinkering with prototype Hero items I could use to submit as a means to enter the support course of a Hero school or get an internship at Oz Industries. They were nothing too fancy, I worked to improve the synthetic webshooters I planned to give Mei before she died, I tuned up the foot mounted ones and even put together some wrist mounted ones to replicate how she shot from the backs of her hands, I even made cartridges to house the synthetic webbing chemical.

The synthetic web turned out better than I initially thought, compact fluid that solidified when exposed to air, fire retardant, strong, elastic, adhesive, and even bio degradable after two hours. Though the absolute strangest thing was how I made it to begin with, chemistry was never my strongest subject, but ever since I got my Quirk I just had the idea on how to make the synthetic webbing. It was almost instinctive when I was mixing chemicals I didn't even know existed a month before I had my Quirk. Less amazing about the synthetic webbing chemicals were their price, just about all the money I had from my allowance went into buying the chemicals needed to make the webbing to fill the twenty cartridges, five for each shooter, which would be fine for demo purposes.

Just to be safe, I headed to a chemical store after school with the last of my allowance for the month, I'd make one more batch of web fluid just to fine tune the individual web shooters, an unofficial demo to prepare for the real thing come mid-term if I decided to take it. I said hi to the cashier girl as I got into the habit of doing and went about the aisles with a small basket for my chemicals. The store was fairly populated, more so than usual, despite it being little bigger than a bodega, usually when I'd come in the past there would be one or two other people with me, but now there were five other shoppers though none of them seemed to be interested in buying anything merely browsing the shelves. The more I tried not to notice, the more I began to notice, they weren't browsing shelves, but the window to the street behind the shelves, the shelves under a security camera, a shelf by the front and back doors. This of course could all be just a coincidence and I might've seen too many heist movies as a kid, at least until the 'shopper' under the camera reached up and pulled the camera out of the ceiling.

It happened like clockwork, once the camera was ripped, two of the 'shoppers' moved to block the two exits, one moved to shut the blinds, and the last one grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and dragged me to the counter. "Empty the register or this kid's death will be on your hands", ordered the man holding me, he wore a silver band across his knuckles that began to vibrate as he pushed it towards my head. A few months ago, I would've been terrified of this situation, but after Mei's death, developing my own Quirk, and nearly being buried alive I wasn't about to be pushed around by some punks. With my strength and speed, I could take out all five but it would be hard to do so safely in the confined store, the cashier could get hurt, and there's no telling what kind of problems random spilled chemicals could cause. So I played along as a hostage, for the cashier's sake and waited for the right time.

The cashier hesitantly opened the register, I don't know if the robbers caught it or not, but it looked like she was fumbling with the register to pop open the money tray. Maybe she hit a silent alarm? If some new hotshot Hero did show up, I wouldn't let it end like last time.

I watched as one of the criminals went behind the counter and dumped the money into a bag, then grabbed what looked like a key ring and unlocked the backroom behind the register, no doubt where they kept the more expensive and dangerous chemicals. Standing still with the humming of the lead criminal's silver knuckles against the side of my head, I watched as the cashier stood back by the wall looking horrified at my situation. Before I could give a sign of reassurance, there was a knock on the front door of the store.

"Excuse me, are you still open?" A elderly voice called from behind the screen covered door, "am I at the right place? I was hoping to get some varnish my brand new porch. Why's everything all closed if the sign says you're still open?"

The criminal holding me motion to one of his men to answer the door while he whispered to the cashier, "you say anything and the kid dies", I felt the hum near my head grow faintly louder, "that goes for you too."

I recognized the voice, it was a Hero, and a pretty famous one too. I looked around as best I could without drawing attention from the criminal holding me, of the five criminals in total, one was still in the backroom, one was holding me, two ducked out of sight, and the last one went to check the door. My moment had come, I mouthed 'get ready' to the cashier who looked horrified as the front door opened just enough for the criminal could show his face to who was outside. "We're clo-."

"This is a robbery!" I yelled as I brought my heel down on the foot of the man holding me, this was the first time I used my Quirk against a person, so I tried to regulate how hard I was going to stomp on this guy's foot. From the sound of the impact, I don't think I completely destroyed his foot, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the scream he made.

"Incredible Strength!" Called the voice from behind the door.

I watched as a something struck the criminal and set him flying backwards, and as luck would have it, he slammed right into the man who just let go of me. As the door swung open, my idea of who the Hero was was confirmed. Standing in the doorway, dressed in a blue and white toga with golden armor, and a blue cape with a large popped up collar, wearing his signature yellow lens aviator glasses was the Semi-Retired Mentor, the Always Rising Hero; Excelsior.

I jumped over the counter and put my foot out just as the criminal from the backroom ran out, causing him to stumble and fall into the two criminals that got sandwiched against the wall by Excelsior's punch. I moved to crouch down with the cashier and came face to face with the two criminals behind the shelves pulling their guns, one fired off a shot and missed narrowly, but the second criminal's gun exploded almost as soon as he pulled the trigger, like in the bullet backfired or something. Even though one was dazed from his gun exploding in his hand, the other was lining up a shot just as the criminal I tripped staggered to his feet.

That's when I saw her, probably the most amazing Hero in training I've ever seen or would ever see. She was wearing a red body suit with a white stripe down the front that stretched from her chest down to her feet. I admit, I was a little distracted by her pale cleavage, something you didn't normally see on a Heroine's costume, but I noticed the white stripe over her chest wasn't just a white stripe, but a big white seven. Flowing from her waist was a white waist cape, matched by a white scarf flowing from around her shoulders that made her silhouette look like a seven. I watched as her red and white boot landed square into the face of the criminal I had tripped, she used the impact to twist and face the two gunmen. I watched as she drew two white collapsible tonfas from her belt and attacked. 

I couldn't see all of the action from my spot behind the counter with the cashier, but I got the idea. She swung her tonfa at the armed criminal first, knocking his gun from his hand before swinging her second tonfa into his face. She spun in place, her scarf swishing across their faces, blinding them, before she resumed her attack on the second criminal. I heard more impacts from the tonfas before she dropped down, hooking the curved handles of her weapons on their ankles yanked upwards, tripping them both into landing hard on their backs. In one smooth motion she stood up, collapsed the two tonfas and hooked them into a pair of holsters on her belt, a golden belt buckle shined on her costume engraved with triple sevens.

"Don't worry citizens", I heard her say as she smiled, brushing her shoulder length crimson hair behind her shoulder, her emerald eyes sparkling brightly through her red domino mask. "If you were in need of a Hero, you just hit the Jackpot." She was the most gorgeous Hero I ever saw, marred only by the sight of one of the criminals staggered to his feet with his friend's dropped gun in hand.

"Look out!" I heard myself say, as an aerosol can ruptured right next to his face, blinding him just long enough for Jackpot to grab his wrist, twist the gun out of his hand, and then judo flip him over her shoulder into the ground.

Jackpot straightened up, this time smiling at me, "thanks for that", she said as she pulled out a pair of handcuffs from behind her belt and cuffed the two criminals at her feet. 

Excelsior entered the store, his cape flowing behind him as he peeked over the counter, "everybody okay?" He asked before moving to cuff the three criminals that had formed a neat little pile.

The cashier and I nodded in response, slowly rising to our feet. As the cashier explained what had happened to Excelsior, the girl, Jackpot approached me and wow did she look gorgeous up close.

"You're the one who said it was a robbery, right?" She smiled and held out her hand when I nodded, "that was pretty brave."

I shook her white gloved hand, noticing she also had a triple seven stitched onto the knuckles and fingers of her gloves. I felt like I did when I first discovered my Quirk, my mind racing with excitement that I could barely exercise any verbal skills. I remember saying something along the lines "yeah, you were pretty cool too." Thinking back on it, I hope that's what I said.

Jackpot smiled as she let go of my hand, but noticing that I was still holding onto hers, "I'm gonna need that back."

It took me an extra second to realize I had let go of her hand but my adhesive powers had locked onto the fabric of her glove. It took some focusing but I managed to let go, "sorry, it was just kind of intense."

"Understandable, I wasn't expecting to thwart a robbery on my first patrol either."

"Yes, how fortuitous. On your first patrol in your internship, we happen to stumble onto an armed robbery in progress." Excelsior almost seemed annoyed at the prospect, more so, he seemed to be addressing Jackpot directly. "You need to get a better control over your Quirk, Jackpot. You can't just let it run wild and follow behind it, people will talk more about your Quirk than you, and you've already said you didn't want that, right?"

Jackpot's shoulders slumped "yes, sir."

I felt myself looking back and forth between the two, he was scolding her about her Quirk, but I never saw her use a power of any kind. Then I began putting it together, her costumed was marked in several places with triple seven, Excelsior was using words like 'fortuitous' to describe the situation, and I began to think back to all the instances during Jackpot's arrival, the backfired gun, the missed shot, the aerosol can. "You're Lucky."

Jackpot rubbed the back of her neck, "it's something like that, my Quirk makes me very lucky. It's pretty hard to control and it only works on make me, I can't make other people lucky." She bent down to drag the two criminals she had cuffed out of the store, "but that's why I'm training to be a Hero so I can control it."

Unconsciously I followed after her, "you're not a Pro?" I asked.

Jackpot laughed lightly, it was a sound I couldn't help but want to hear more. "No, not yet", she said "I'm from Academy X, this is my fall internship. Are you with any of the Hero schools?"

Suddenly I felt very nervous about admitting that I wasn't in a Hero school, yet, or about my Quirk that wasn't exactly natural. Luckily, Excelsior saved me from possible embarrassment.

"You can address your adoring public when you turn Pro, Jackpot. We're on the clock right now." Although he appeared to look stern, Excelsior smiled and held out his hand, "that was a very brave thing to do, kid. What's your name?"

I tried to contain myself, shaking hands with a cute girl was one thing, but shaking hands with a Hero Mentor who trained the number one hero in the world, All Might, was a whole other level of surrealism. I remembered to control my hand as I gave the Hero Mentor a firm grip, "Kumo, Kumo Hisashi." Letting go of Excelsior's hand, I felt my inner Hero fanboy bubble to the surface, "I know who you are, you're the Always Rising Hero Mentor, Excelsior. Your Quirk, Word of Power, gives you different powers based on adjectives you assign to them, like you did with Incredible Strength. You're world famous because you trained All Might when he came to America".

The Hero Mentor nodded in agreement but held up one hand, "close, kid, but you were incorrect on one point. I did train All Might when he came to America, but I wasn't the only one to do so. When he came stateside to study being a Hero, he trained under numerous mentors all across America, so I can't take full credit for shaping him into the icon he is today. Remember that." The old man winked, "though between us, let's just say I did nudge him into wearing the ol' red, white, and blue as his costume's primary colors."

Before I had the chance to ask more questions, the police arrived to take in the criminals and take statements from Excelsior and Jackpot. An officer even interviewed me and the cashier, though it didn't take too long before they let us go. Luckily after all the excitement, I remembered why I came to the store in the first place and grabbed two small soda can sized aerosol cans off the shelf. Though the cashier was surprised that I could so casually go back to shopping after behind held hostage, but rang me up anyway. By the time I left the shop with my cans, the police had the criminals in the back of a truck, and it looked like Excelsior and Jackpot were about to resume their patrol.

As much as I wanted to gush over how awesome Excelsior and Jackpot were, I thought against it, they had to get back to work and I had to get home and hope Uncle Ben didn't find out about this incident on his way home from work. As it turned out, I didn't have to as I felt a hand on my shoulder, belonging to the Hero Mentor himself. "Before we part ways, kid", he said "which Hero school are you attending? I'd love to meet the teacher that's training you. You got quite the future in this business if you could keep your cool during situation like that."

Turning around, I made eye contact with Excelsior and Jackpot, and suddenly felt very small. "I'm not in a Hero school, I'm in a general studies high school. Though, I'm considering taking the mid-term entrance exam to enter the support course for Academy X." I could feel the response coming before I heard it.

"Support? Not the Hero course?" Excelsior ask.

"I don't have a Quirk. I can't exactly apply to the Hero course."

"That's okay," I was surprised to hear that coming from Jackpot, "not everyone enrolls into Hero Schools just to be Heroes, and people need to stop expecting everyone who enrolls into a Hero school to be Heroes."

Excelsior gave an exasperated sigh, but smiled too, like he had heard this conversation before. "Didn't you enroll specifically for the Hero course?"

"I did, it was the only way I could learn how to control my Quirk. General, Support, and Management courses don't cover Quirk training as well as the Hero course." Jackpot had her hands on her hips, and the more she talked, it seemed like she was addressing herself, more than her mentor or me. "I want to be more than my Quirk, yeah I could be a Hero. Maybe I'll change my mind later in life and be a movie star, or maybe I'll model Hero costumes and gear." She smiled at me, pointed an outstretched finger at me, "so if you're going to enroll for Academy X just for the Support course, you do it. I can't wait to see what you'll create."

I began to feel my face warm up, this was the first time I've heard encouragement to pursue my dream since before Mei died. For Ben's sake I had been downplaying my dream of building Hero gear so much that it became less of a dream and more of a hobby. Hearing Jackpot talk about the non-Hero courses of Academy X was something I needed to hear, more so that while she was training to be a Hero, she also had her own dreams. "Well, I can't wait to pass that midterm and join Academy X."

Excelsior smiled and clapped Jackpot on the shoulder, "for someone who didn't enroll to become a Hero, you're doing a great job encouraging Heroes in your own way." He held out his hand to shake mine once more "it was great to meet you, Kumo. Whether it will be as a Hero or a creator of Hero Gear, you're going to do great things. So long as you remember one thing."

I heard this so many times as a kid, I'm not ashamed to say my inner child took the controls of my sixteen year old body and raised a fist triumphantly into the air, "Excelsior!" He was as amazing in person as he was on tv back in the day, he didn't miss a beat as he matched my recreation of his signature pose.

"That's right kid. Always be ever rising upward", said the Hero Mentor.

"It was great to meet you two, I gotta get home and get to working on some works I can submit into the Support course's midterm." I shook hands with the two Heroes and headed home, with an extra spring in my step, and a smile on my face. Meeting Excelsior and Jackpot was just the motivation I needed to get back to work on my project.

Dusk was falling on the city by the time I made it home, the lights were still off indicating that Uncle Ben was still at work. All the better that I could work in peace on the webshooters, and even make some tweaks to the Mei's old mask's goggles. I don't know how long I was working before I heard my phone go off, Uncle Ben had sent me a text saying he was pulling overtime and reminded me he left some cash so I could get dinner from one of the nearby fast food places if I was hungry but to also wear a jacket since it was getting colder at night. I responded with a simple 'okay' and went back to my own work. 

I slipped on the gloves for the webshooters, the cartridges were housed in a compartment the wrapped around the wrist, the sprayer rested on the back of my palm, and I had four pressure sensors at the based of each finger. Each pressure sensor was tuned to respond to a precise touch so the webshooter wouldn't go off from casually closing a fist. Both gloves worked like a charm, cartridges loaded into place when the covering over the nozzle was cocked back and the previous cartridge was ejected in the same motion, all pressure sensors registered and responded.

As the hours went by, I finally decided to give myself a break and go get some food. I thought about taking off the gloves, but as fall rolled in, the nights got colder and I decided against it. A small decision that would later cause a massive impact on my life. With warm hands, I grabbed my hoodie, pocketed some cash, and headed out the door. Even though it couldn't have been more than eight thirty pm, it looked much later given how dark the sky was.

Just another chilly October night, or so I thought as I entered one of the nearby pizza joints. As I waited in line to order, a low rumble began to be heard above the collective ambient noise of the restaurant, steadily growing in the distance. Suddenly the low rumble turned into thunderous booms as a massive dark shadow appeared around the block, casually swatting away cars as if they were toys. The occupants of the restaurant watched in silence, some daring to whisper if the shadow was a villain. As if in response, shadow turned toward the restaurant and roared loud enough to vibrated the windows, it then bent its head down like it was about to charge through the building but a battle cry interrupted it.

"Fist of the Golden Dragon!"

The Undefeated Hero, Dragon Fist's fist had clocked the shadow across what looked to be it's face, the golden glow of his scaled hand illuminating it ever so slightly and what the light revealed wasn't pretty. Before I could process why the shadow's face looked almost familiar, the restaurant's door opened to Unbreakable who began to tell everyone to evacuate the area while his and Dragon Fist's sidekicks helped usher everyone out. I followed with the crowd as best I could while also trying to get another look at the shadow monster Dragon Fist was fighting, and I didn't have to wait long.

The shadow swung a massive fist at Dragon Fist, but the Hero was more agile and dodged aside, instead of hitting him the fist struck one of the nearby parked cars. There was a sound of crunching metal then an explosion, engulfing the shadow is a ball of fire. It was through that fire I saw why the shadow's face looked so familiar when initially illuminated by Dragon Fist's punch. The monster's skin was the same texture as the woman who used her Quirk to try and bury my alive in the warehouse all those months ago. The monster was roughly eight feet tall with rough and jagged skin that resembled uneven concrete, but shape of the body made it clear that this thing wasn't the same woman, at least so I thought.

The monster's attention was focused on Dragon Fist, it didn't notice when Unbreakable blindsided it, tackling it into the middle of the street away from cars and buildings. If the monster's face could express surprise or confusion, it chose not to, the monster instead continued to swing its massive stone like fists at Dragon Fist, swatting the Hero away like a fly before turning it's attention to Unbreakable. I watched as the Community Hero was pulled away from the monster's body and thrown through the pizza restaurant's window.

"Kid, get out of here", it was one of Hell Kitchen Agency's sidekicks, the girl who could change her arms into swords, Dragonette her Hero name was. "This thing is dangerous, you need to leave", her arms elongated and grew silver and sharp as she charged at the monster attacking her mentor. "Get away from him!" She yelled as she swung her blade arms into the monster's legs only for them to glance off the rock like material. The Hero and his sidekick forced the monster to stay in the street, but their combined attacks were barely annoying it and the monster continued its path down the street, crushing it's way through cars as it wandered, occasionally swiping at the Heroes that attacked it. Recovering from the attack, Unbreakable and his sidekick Mercy followed after the monster, reiterating for me to run and get to safety. 

I should've run home, but I couldn't, especially since this concrete monster wasn't alone. I didn't need to wait for the news to report it, since various social media apps on my phone were already blowing up with five different monster sightings like this in the city including this concrete monster and each one was holding its own against several Pro Heroes. I kept my distance as I followed, watching the Heroes fight and the monster shift from passively ignoring them to actively attacking them. The more I saw, the more my mind began to wander, the stolen Quirk transference research tech, this monster with an identical Quirk to someone I had a close encounter with. The woman and her boss must've succeeded with whatever they were experimenting on, and the result of those experiments were these five monsters roaming the city.

A thunderous crash and a ball of fire shooting into the air snapped me out of my thought, as I rounded a corner and the sight before me was like something out of a horror movie. The monster had smashed partially through an gas station causing fires to break out to the nearby buildings and scattering the Pro Heroes to abandoned the fight and commit to rescue operations. Unbreakable and Dragon Fist went to evacuate people from the nearby buildings while Dragonette and Mercy worked to contain the fires, leaving the monster to continue on it's rampage unopposed. 

Eclipsed by the monster's form, a new Hero blocked it's path, a woman dressed in red and white. "Stop right there villain!" A familiar voiced called out, "surrender peacefully and you won't be harmed." The monster gave no indication that it heard the Hero and continued on it's path. By pure chance, the monster's foot stepped on a pothole of worn down pavement and punched through breaking a pipe underneath and sending a blast of steam straight into it's face, blinding it. The concrete monster roared in pain, flailing it's arms trying to halt the spray of steam leaving it's face exposed.

"Uncanny Optics!" Another familiar voice called out as a blue beam of energy slammed into the monster in the face, toppling it over. "Nice job, Jackpot, now go help contain that fire, but send that kid with the ice arm over here, we need to restrain this guy before he comes to."

"Understood, sir."

Watching from my cover, I saw the Heroes get to work. Buildings had been evacuated, nearby fires had been extinguished, the main fire from the gas station had been contained, and Mercy had assisted Excelsior in coating the monster's torso in ice. The day, or in this case night, looked well and truly saved, at least it did until the monster started smoking. Slowly the ice encasing it began to thaw as its dark grey concrete-like skin began to steadily glow red.

The monster roared, rising to it's feet as the ice around it's chest crumbled away. With all the buildings evacuated the Heroes could freely focus on fighting it, it should've been a simple task. Unbreakable and Dragon Fist attacked first, unleashing a combo punching, and while their attacks landed a yell of pain from both Pros revealed their attack was fruitless. The monster swatted them aside, Dragon Fist landing on a nearby car and Unbreakable through the brick wall of a building. The sidekicks of Hell Kitchen gave a divided attack, Dragonette attacking with her sword arms while Mercy covered her by firing off beams of ice from her arm, and for a moment it seemed to work until Dragonette couldn't maintain her blade forms and had to back away. As Dragonette retreated, Mercy upped the intensity of her ice beams, but as the monster drew closer the heat from it's body began to have an adverse effect on her arm, weakening the attacks.

"Get back you two and cover your ears!" Excelsior barely gave the two sidekicks enough time to follow his command before he unleashed his most devastating attacks, "Inhuman... voice!" At the the word voice, Excelsior's voice boomed sending a thunderous shockwave towards the monster nearly toppling it over and blowing bits of it's heated cement-like skin off it's body.

In all my years of Hero worshiping, I had only found one instance when Excelsior had used Inhuman Voice before, and it had nearly crippled him, he must've been desperate to use that attack now. I could only watch as the shockwave settled and the monster stood back up right and turned to face the Hero Mentor. I watched as Jackpot rushed to her mentor's side and pulled him away before the monster could attack, I couldn't hear what Excelsior was saying but judging how Jackpot was responding to him, it sounded like his voice was damaged and with Mercy and Dragonette recovering from their own attacks that left Jackpot as the only Hero on her feet.

With Excelsior's arm over her shoulder, Jackpot half carried and half dragged her mentor away luring the now enraged monster away from the other Heroes. "Would you shut it and let your voice recover, I'm not running and leaving you." I watched the young intern hobble with her mentor with the monster right behind them, the two continuing to argue on what to do as the monster drew closer. "You'll be okay boss, I'm here and I'm not running without you."

Jackpot's word were loud enough to reach me in my hiding spot, and suddenly I found myself in an all too similar situation. Hiding while watching real Heroes risk their lives fighting evil, I watched helplessly as Aunt Mei gave her life. But it was different now, now I wasn't helpless, now no one else had to die.

"Just let me go and run, kid!" Excelsior's voice called out weakly.

You say run, Excelsior, but Jackpot had no reason to abandon you, and I had no reason to run. I had the power to help and as Mei always said, if I had the power to help it was my responsibility to help. Rising from my hiding spot, my eyes locked onto the monster, I reached into the sleeves of my hoodie and readied the pressure on my webshooters and ran.


	6. Arachnid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Throwing caution to the wind, Kumo steps out of the shadows to use his Quirk to protect the nearby Pro Heroes, making his debut as the Amazing Hero: Arachnid.

I knew the webbing was nontoxic but that didn't mean it was pleasant to have sprayed onto my mouth and nose. It smelt and tasted like someone at a mall had sprayed me in the face with some funky smelling perfume, but I felt it was necessary to cover my face and I didn't have a mask on hand. With my hood pulled up, I sprayed a short bit of webbing in my face to act as a makeshift mask, luckily the webbing pattern covered my face well enough to hide it but had enough open spaces to allow me to breathe and see through clearly.

With my speed, I managed to easily close the distance between myself and the monster and leaped into the air. Even in the chilly fall weather, the monster gave off the heat of standing in front of an open oven. "Go left!" I yelled below me, drawing the attention of Excelsior, Jackpot, and the monster as I fired a web line onto the monster's right shoulder. Luckily I had timed it right so the monster's right foot left the ground in mid-step as I landed in a crouched position on the wall of a building next to the street and gave a hard yank from the web line causing the monster pull away from it's pursuit of the two Heroes, leaping off wall and firing a second web line at the ground and used it to add extra momentum to my jump. I brought my foot out and kicked the monster's concrete-like face as I sailed past it, causing the monster to spin and face plant into the street. I landed in front of Excelsior and Jackpot, who had moved closer to the building as I instructed while the monster fell towards the right, away from them.

"Are you two okay?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the monster as it already began to rise to it's feet.

"We're fine," I heard Jackpot respond, "thanks for the assist. Are you a new Pro?"

Keeping my back to the two, I watched the concrete monster rise to it's feet and turned to face it's newest attacker. "I'm just here to help. Keep Excelsior close until his voice recovers, your luck should keep you both safe if he's close by you." Pressing two senors on my gloves, a small cover of webbing flowed over my knuckles, like a pair of web covered boxing gloves, "I'll keep Pebbles here busy until either he or the other Pros recover." Not waiting for a response, I launched myself up and resumed my attack, firing off a webline at a nearby building while spraying a wide net-like spray of webbing from my hand and swinging around the monster, tying it's arms down and wrapping it's torso in webbing. Letting go of the webline, I land on my cushion of webbing on it's chest and began landing several punches into the monster's face. It felt like the consistency of punching a blisteringly hot bag of wet sand, which explained why Dragon Fist's or Unbreakable's punching attacks, or even Excelsior's Inhuman Voice didn't effect it much. It's heated rock-like substance of it's skin weakened it's own rigidness, cushioning the impacts inflicted on it's body which meant I wouldn't last long in a drawn out slugfest.

Underneath me, I could feel strands of webbing beginning to snap, and fired a ball of webbing into it's face as I jumped off, right as it's arms broke free and began to swing at me. The monster was strong and could absorb a lot of damage, but I was faster and after months of training sometimes against an automatic baseball launcher, my reflexes were faster. When monster swung a fist at me, I could use my webbing to pull it off course or simply dodge it and counter-attack to daze it and keep it's attention focused on me. Good news was that it was working, bad news was as it was working, the monster's body heat was growing more intense making my webbing less effective, and it may have been my imagination but I think the monster was getting faster.

I needed to take this thing down soon, it's body heat is rising and making it's skin more dangerous offensively and defensively. Aiming to fire another shot of webbing at the monster's face, only pressurized air spat out, but a quick slide backwards from the housing over the nozzle and a fresh web cartridge was fed into place. Just as the new cartridge was loaded, a wave of intense heat was my only warning as I leaped away and perched the wall of the nearby building. At this point, the monster barely resembled the creature I initially saw not half an hour ago, the jagged and uneven concrete-like skin now resembled freshly poured molten asphalt which dripped constantly as it now moved. At this rate, fighting the monster further could cause fires to break out and it was already getting so hot my face pouring with sweat. 

Little did I know, I was so caught up in that fight that I didn't realize what was pouring down my face wasn't sweat, it was the dissolved remains of my web made mask. Turns out, while the webbing was fire retardant, the constant heat was accelerating its degradation rate. I doubt though it would've made much difference if I had realized it at the time, it would've been a waste of webbing to worry about constantly hiding my face and I didn't have that much to waste to begin with.

The monster swung a molten fist at me which I easily managed to dodge, but I wasn't fast enough to avoid some fleck of it's melted skin which singed my clothes. Moving to reposition myself, I saw a shadow approaching that turned out to be Jackpot who seemed to be carrying something.

"Get back, his skin is molten and unstable", I yelled, firing a shot of webbing into the monster's face to distract it from turning it's attention to a new target.

Jackpot's response was to throw the thing she was carrying at the monster, a fire extinguisher. "I know, hopefully this will help. I broke the regulator, so the heat shouldn't make it outright explode."

I fired a shot of webbing from each webshooter, further attaching the extinguisher to the monster's molten flesh, "great idea, but the chemicals in a fire extinguisher won't cool this thing's skin to make it punchable."

Like a spout from a tea pot, a blast of compressed gas shot out from the capped end of the extinguisher, Jackpot was right, instead of exploding the extinguisher pushed the monster backwards. "Who said anything about using the extinguisher to cool him off?"

That's when I saw where the monster was being pushed and understood Jackpot's plan, "got it." Using my enhanced speed I ran ahead of the monster down the street and I fired a pair of web lines into the monster's back. Holding onto the two lines I braced my feet against a fire hydrant, just as the extinguisher ran out of gas and monster began to walk forward. I pulled hard on both lines, while using my foot to push against the base of the hydrant while my other foot balanced against the top, creating a crack in middle which sent a torrent of water into the monster's back causing an explosion of steam. "Drink up, buddy!"

The monster let out of bubbling growl as it pulled against my webbing, swinging it's arms out to throw globs of molten rock at Jackpot while she was still out in the open, only for said globs to slam into what looked like an invisible wall.

The Hero Mentor staggered out of his hiding spot with an outstretched hand, "Fantastic Barrier", coughed Excelsior as he stood by his protege, giving the monster a clear target to attack while also keeping them safe as it cooled.

Before I knew it, the monster had ceased pulling against me and went static, resembling more of an ugly statue than a former molten concrete monster. Pushing the hydrant back upright and webbing the crack I had made in it, I went to check on the petrified monster. The hot steam that engulfed the area made it almost impossible to see but two web lines helped guide me to it, it's skin was course and warm to touch but it was solid.

Wiping the sweat from my face, I noticed my web mask had dissolved in the fight and reapplied it as Jackpot and Excelsior emerged from the fog, "monster's immobilized. But I think his core body is stuck inside this rock." I used the adhesive powers of my fingertips to start pulling off chunks of the monster's shell while Jackpot helped me, it was a brief moment but it looked as if Excelsior was hesitating to help, but just as quickly the moment passed and Excelsior stepped in to help us. Together the three of us, had chipped away at the monster, revealing the scrawny young man at it's core.

He couldn't have been older than me, his skin was course and rough like the woman's and he was soaked in sweat and steaming from the heat. It look like his rock skin Quirk had overwhelmed his body, combined with his rising body temperature from overexerting himself had cause his rock skin to turn molten and build on itself, turning him into this monster. Luckily he was alive, exhausted and bruised, but alive.

The sound of distant voices and footsteps grabbed my attention, it sounded like the Hell's Kitchen Agency had recovered and were looking for the monster that had thoroughly trounced them, and with said monster beaten, I thought it would be best to leave the area. After all, I wasn't a registered Quirk user, in fact I wasn't registered as having a Quirk at all and I wasn't prepared for that line of questioning.

"Go ahead, kid, get going", said Excelsior to the confusion of Jackpot, giving me a knowing nod.

He knew, that was the only explanation I could think of at the time as to why the Hero Mentor chose to let me go, but I wasn't about to waste the chance. I waded my way through the monster's rubble skin and ran through the dissipating steam cloud before the other Pro Heroes arrived. For the second time that night, I ran, I ran as fast as I could towards home. I pulled the webbing mask off my face as I reached the door, not even bothering to look if Uncle Ben's car was in the driveway.

Once inside I took a few deep breathes to calm down and instantly felt myself in an embrace. Ben was home, he had left work by my estimates as I initially left the house to get dinner and the first news report he heard over his car radio and when he got home were about monster attacks and his only living family wasn't home. All I could do was hug him back, and reassure him I was okay, which might have been hard to do given how I was covered in dirt and smelled like smoke. So I explained as best I could what happened, how I went to get dinner and a monster attacked, but nearby Pros fought to subdue it while I was stuck waiting in hiding before I could try to get home. I hated lying to him, but the lie seemed better than the truth.

"I was so worried when I saw the news, and you weren't here." Ben said as he held me tightly.

"I'm okay, the Pros kept me out of the worst of it, but I'm okay. Nothing a shower can't fix." I said half jokingly, though I don't think Ben felt like being in a joking mood.

"I saw on the news, all those... things attacking all of the city. So many Heroes were getting hurt while fighting them."

I could feel Ben's hands clutching the back of my hoodie, "yeah, I saw. But the ones that were near me managed to take one down before anyone got seriously hurt." I patted Ben on the back, "they kept me safe, they did what Heroes do." I realized too late what I had implied and tensed up, which I think Ben caught.

Ben let go of me and looked me in the eye, which looked like he was fighting to keep himself together, but he only smiled and kissed my head. "That's right, that's what they do."

The news on the tv got both of our attention, a reporter was covering the five monster attacks that had occurred throughout the city, several Pro Heroes and Sidekicks were injured along with a few dozen civilians but there were no fatalities during the attacks. Though the lack of fatalities wasn't a surprise given the Pro Hero that had arrived on the scene, the number one Hero in the world, All Might had arrived and gave out state sized smashes out to four of the five monsters. By my calculations, I had just missed his arrival when I ran home.

As excited as I would normally be from nearly meeting All Might I was too exhausted, beat from the fight and still hungry I was ready for the day to end, and after a quick shower and a change of clothes I fell into bed. I was sore, hungry, but I felt good, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had finally used my Quirk in a real fight, and managed to not only help out some real Heroes but to also save a life that could've easily been considered a Villain. Last thought I remember thinking before falling asleep was wondering if Mei would be proud of me, I think she would be.

Over the next few days, repairs were made to the attack zones, civilians who were caught in the middle of those attacks checked out of the hospital and went back their lives, Heroes and Sidekicks returned to work, and I went back to being an ordinary Quirkless teenager at least as far as the world was concerned but that was about to change. As I walked through the scrapyard where I initially tested out my powers, where Mei and I spent so much time scavenging, this was the first time I found someone waiting for me.

"Hey, kid."

It was Excelsior, though he was out of costume, I could easily recognize him due to his glasses and mustache no matter what civilian clothes he was wearing. "Excelsior, what are you doing here?"

The Hero Mentor smiled and held out his hand, "I just wanted to say thanks for the help the other night."

I felt myself freeze, I suspected that night Excelsior knew I wasn't a registered Quirk user but how did he know who I was. "I, uh...., I don't know what you mean", I heard myself say stupidly as I shook his hand.

Excelsior let go of my hand, "kid, I've trained many Heroes, I've taught at a lot of different schools, I've seen all kinds of marvelous Quirks, but I've only seen a Quirk like yours once before and only from one woman. Imagine my surprise when I see a Webslinging Quirk in action after Ms. Web herself had already passed." He said, "now it's not unusual for family member to retain the same Quirks, but what's strange is that Mei's only living family is her husband and nephew and the person who helped save me and Jackpot's hides that night wasn't him. So from one Hero to another, let me again, say thanks."

I fell backwards, sitting on the bumper of a half rusted car. "I'm not a Hero, I just wanted to help."

"You risked your life to help others, that is the very essence of being a hero", said a voice from the shadows causing me to jump. This Hero was also out of costume but that didn't stop him from being just as recognizable as Excelsior. Stepping out of the shadows wearing a beige overcoat was the number one Hero in the world, All Might, he also extended a hand for me to shake, "that is why I am here, I heard I have you to thank for taking down that fifth monstrosity while I was busy with the other four that were spread across the city. So let me say, thank you, mister..."

Dumbfounded, I shook his massive hand, a hand that had smashed so many villains was holding me, giving me a strong but firm shake. "Kumo, Kumo Hisashi. I just helped a little, The Hell's Kitchen Agency, Excelsior, and Jackpot did most of the work. You should really be thanking them."

All Might let go of my hand, his blue eyes and smile never wavering from me, "Well, young Hisashi, I did thank them. But after all the action had pass, my old friend here pulled me aside and told me the strangest thing. A masked Vigilante had stepped into fray, risked their own safety to help out licensed Heroes, and even prevented the Villain's own demise. I was disappointed that I didn't get to meet such a Hero."

I stood up quickly at the implication, looking back and forth between the two Heroes, "hold on, I'm not a Vigilante, I'm nothing like them." In the world of Superhero societies, Vigilantes were the black sheep of that society, non-registered Heroes, disillusioned Heroes with violent tendencies, and reformed Villains who could not fully conform to Laws. They came from all walks of life but Vigilantes had a few things in common, chief being they cared little for the spotlight and cared more about hurting villains that helping civilians. Sometimes, even lethally. "I just saw an opportunity help."

Excelsior held up his hands, "easy kid, that's exactly what we're saying. A Vigilante wouldn't have warned me and Jackpot to get to cover, a Vigilante wouldn't have worked with a Hero in training like Jackpot to defeat that monster, and a Vigilante wouldn't have thought to save the poor kid trapped inside."

I relaxed a bit, the last thing I wanted was for these two icons to think I was nothing more than a Vigilante out to end lives, "how is he?" I asked, remembering the guy I dug out of the monster's shell "they guy we dug out of that monster, is he okay?"

"He's recovering in a special hospital for people with unstable or hard to control Quirks, but he's alive, in no small part thanks to your quick thinking", said All Might as he clapped a hand on my shoulder, "so I have to ask, why is a compassionate and talented young Hero in the making is wasting his potential pretending to be Quirkless and masquerading as a Vigilante?"

I remembered the words of that woman, how police and some Heroes could be working for her employer, but if I couldn't trust Excelsior or All Might, I wasted my life admiring Heroes. I told them everything, from the attack that killed Aunt Mei, the powers I had developed, how I tried to hunt down the ones responsible, how I was nearly buried alive, how after I had a conversation with the Hell's Kitchen Agency I tried to ignore using my powers and leave the villains to the Pros but then the monster attack happened. I explained my dream of building Hero gear in lieu of not having a Quirk and now that I had one, how divided I felt.

All Might was the first speak after I finished, "the burden you carry is a considerable one, young Hisashi. But the key thing to being a Hero is to be true to yourself, you won't make it very far if you can't decide whether or not to commit to Heroics."

"Secret Identities went out of fashion a long time ago for Heroes, and the only ones that try to maintain them are Villains or Vigilantes which you clearly are not." Excelsior added, "but I think I speak for both myself and All Might, if Quirks could be given out like trick or treat candy, it would be a nightmare scenario for Heroes."

For the first time ever, I saw All Might's iconic smile fade, "agreed. Which is why I've been asked to assist the police in tracking down the ones responsible for unleashing those monstrosities before I return to Japan at the end of the year."

"Which means, after All Might leaves, we'll need all hands on deck to deal with the inevitable rise in crime rate as well find those responsible for the theft of the Quirk Transference technology." Excelsior added, "which may be unlikely even if All Might wasn't leaving, these people are careful, well connected, and aren't afraid kill to remain hidden."

I felt my fist clench, this all began when some two bit thief scavenged an old warehouse for scrap and found a tool meant to help and turned it into a weapon. A weapon that had changed my life forever, "I'll do whatever I can to help out, even if I can't reveal my Quirk, I want to use it to help the people these monsters hurt."

The iconic smile returned to All Might's face, "and how do you plan to do that, young Hisashi?"

"However I can. My Aunt used to say, 'if you have the Power to help others, it was your Responsibility to help others'. Before I got this Quirk, I was going to build Hero Equipment, I can still do that, but with my Quirk I can actively help those in need, and if I'm not a registered Quirk user, the Villains behind those monster attacks won't even see me coming." I felt good, proud as I stood before the two iconic Heroes, but Excelsior snapped me back to reality hard.

"Kid, you just told two of the most respected Heroes in our fair city you plan on going full Vigilante, maybe not the smartest move." Excelsior smiled as he folded his arms, "but you may have a point kid, if these Villains have as many connections we believe, that may be best bet. What to you think, All Might?"

"Officially, I cannot condone such a proposal. Unofficially, I still don't feel comfortable with the proposal, not without you undertaking some training, but I see great potential in you." All Might held up one hand, "but if you are to help out in the street, you'll need a proper name."

I didn't have to think long on a name, giving my powers it felt natural, "Arachnid. I'll be the Amazing Hero, Arachnid."

"Interesting choice," said All Might, "but something tells me people won't be so receptive of a Hero who's named after spiders, though I think it'll terrify Villains."

"I like it, it suits your powers, especially after I saw you fight," Excelsior added.

All Might shook my hand, "well then, Arachnid, I look forward to hearing more about your future exploits. Hopefully, I can wrap this business up quickly before too long and let you focus on your true goal." Letting go of my hand, the number one Hero took a step back, "until then, I wish you the best of luck. It was also nice to see you again, Stan. We should catch up one last time before I leave." Crouching low, All Might launched himself into the air, quickly fading from view.

Shielding his eyes from the sun as he tried to follow him, the mentor whistled sharply. "He always did like to make an exit", Excelsior said as he turned to me, "I too will endeavor to work towards bringing down the Villains behind this monster attack, so for now until All Might returns to Japan, I'd ask you to keep your head down and focus on school. Also, keep quiet about All Might leaving in general, we don't want it to be public knowledge until after he's out of the country."

I nodded in agreement, just knowing All Might was in the some states caused the crime rate to drop and the reverse was true too. "I'll keep quiet about All Might, but I don't know if I can go back to just pretending I'm Quirkless, not when I know I can make a difference."

"Well then don't worry about these Villains conducting their Quirk transference experiments, instead focus on the neighborhood. Be a friendly neighborhood Arachnid." Excelsior smiled checking his watch, "I need to get back to work, kid. But stay in touch, you know my agency right?" I nodded, "good. Speaking of work, which Hero school did you say you went to again?"

"I don't go to a Hero School", I said, though I could've sworn I already told Excelsior this.

"Just checking, see ya around kid." Excelsior waved as he left the scrapyard, less spectacularly than All Might, but just as impactful.

I headed home later that day, sat on my bed and read through my notebook. All my gadget ideas, all my costume ideas, my records of my powers from when I trained. Looking up at my laptop, I found videos of the professional and amateur footage of All Might's fight with the other four monsters, each monster put up a strong fight but All Might laid out each one in under five blows from a Smash. In fact you could easily piece together All Might's path, after a fight All Might would jump into the air, and you'd find him a few blocks away at another monster rampage and the process would repeat. The only footage that was missing was the fifth one, the only footage of All Might at the fifth siting was him meeting Excelsior, Jackpot, and the Hell's Kitchen Agency after the fight was already over. I closed the five videos, shut my notebook and headed into the garage to begin work. The webshooters needed to be refilled and fine tuned after that fight, I even worked to complete Mrs. Web's new mask design, or should I say Arachnid's prototype mask.

I took Excelsior's advice to heart, over the coming weeks I kept my extracurricular to a minimum and focused on school, but I couldn't turn a blind eye or ear to people in need. Soon people began to recognize a lone Hero, stringing up criminals and Villains in webbing, and leaving before the police arrived to take them in. As November rolled into December, people began to realize this spider themed Hero wasn't a newly minted Rookie Hero, but an unregistered Vigilante. Even in my school, word had spread about Arachnid and everyone had an opinion, some said he was growing menace using their Quirk for thrill seeking, others said they represented the long dead meaning of being a true Hero and helped without the promise of recognition or reward. I tried not to have a vocal opinion on him, but I had to admit when anyone asked, he couldn't be all bad if he was risking his life to help people in trouble.

In the midst of the Arachnid craze sweeping the city, I remembered All Might's advice and decided to take a more professional approach to training, and applied to Academy X for the semester transfer. Though the biggest surprised came when my application test was rejected due to redundancy, and when I returned home that day I found out why. I had a letter of acceptance from Academy X, apparently I was entered under recommendation, it took some convincing but Ben reluctantly gave his blessing, mostly because I promised to apply to the Support course not the Hero course.

By the end of the year, I wrapped up some last minute projects, put together a rudimentary costume, and mixed a healthy stock of web fluid. Looking up at the night sky, I couldn't help be think of Mei and wondered what she would say at all this. I was a non-registered Hero and Quirk user putting my safety at risk to help others, and in a few weeks I'd be attending her old school. I hope she'd be proud of me, but I think she would be.

I remembered going to bed thinking this would change my life for the better, but in the coming months I'd learn the very opposite could be said. The odd petty criminals would be replaced with serious threats to me both in and out of costume, as well as in and out of school. I'd gain friends in Academy X and some would become enemies. My relationship with Uncle Ben would be tested and pushed to the breaking point. 

My life as Arachnid wouldn't be an easy one, but knowing what I know now and remembering that night. I wouldn't change a thing.


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victory is Imminent.

Deep into December, snow covered the city as a lone man in a well made suit looked out the window of his office, drink in hand as the six monitors behind his desk replayed various footage of the Monstrosities that had attacked on Halloween. The man looked as far down into the city as he could, watching as the civilians milled about like ants until a blinking light caught his eye in the reflection, signalling the call he was waiting on had arrived.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and all that jazz. I trust everyone has been enjoying their respective holidays?"

"Why have you summoned us, Number Six?" A heavily modified deep voice asked through a speaker under one of the monitors.

"Why, Number Two? Because this time of year is meant to be spent with family and friends, and what better way to spend that time than to give gifts, which I trust you all have received?"

Another voice spoke from under a monitor, this one less deep but equally modified, "footage of the Halloween attack by our failed test subjects? Is it possible to return 'gifts' we've already received?"

The man in the suit smiled, taking a sip of his alcoholic drink before setting the glass down on his desk, "now now now, calling them failures is a bit harsh, Number Three. In fact, from a certain perspective, I'd call them a success."

"A success? Then please explain this certain perspective", said another voice, this one a modified female voice.

"Gladly, Number Five. As you are all aware, the purpose of the experiment was to prove Quirk Transference could be possible at all. It was, and with some coaxing from a few volunteers, we even managed to stabilize some experiments before they unfortunately expired." The man sat against his desk, facing the wall of monitors as he explained, "we learned how much of a Quirk could be transferred before either participant expired, we improved on how long Quirks could be retained after transfer before the host's body began to reject the new Quirk. Compare what we learned on Halloween night to five years ago, when our project was abandoned to collect dust, the difference is night and day."

"Not to mention, how the combination of Quirks could reinforce each other. Take Experiment number Four, a simple melting Quirk that could trigger under exertion combined with cement-like skin", spoke another modified female voice, though the modification only barely hid the sultry tone of an Egyptian accent that poured like poisoned honey.

"Precisely, Number One." The man said as he lightly clapped his hands together, but before he could follow up the point, he was interrupted by the modified deep voice of Number Two.

"Reinforced Quirks are fine on paper, Number Six, but after months of experimentation what did we have to show for our efforts? Despite their increased power from multiple Quirks, of the six Experiments we created, one died from your own Quirk, one went missing, and four barely lasted in a fight again All Might."

The man in the suit inhaled deeply to calm his growing irritation of Number Two's ever present pessimism, "ever the optimist, eh Number Two? Honestly that should be marked as a success as well, it took All Might's intervention to defeat our Experiments and even they put up a fight better than most against him." The man reached for his drink to calm his nerves, only to notice his hand had turned a sickly green and dried out. Before he could focus too long onto his hand, a single voice spoke through a monitor.

A third female voice spoke though the modification which only barely hid her thick Russian accent, "Number Four requests if the fate of Experiment Four has been determined."

"Good question, Number Four," the man in the suit said as tried to calm his hand enough to change from a sickly and leathery green back to a healthy pink and tan, "as you've no doubt noticed, only four of the Experiments were found and filmed amidst their respective rampages and all four were trounced by that Great Pillar of Society, All Might. Experiment One died shortly after being released and was recovered. Experiment Four went missing after being released and it appears to have purposely went against it's projected path and disappeared near the residential side of the city."

The venomous sultry tone of Number One spoke through her monitor, "awww, the little deary was homesick."

"That was my estimate as well, which was why I had activated our reconnaissance probes", the man in the suit tapped a button on a remote and all six monitors changed from the the news and amateur footage to the same footage from a camera feed watching over a street. "Which is where we found Experiment Four", all six monitors showed footage of the labeled Experiment Four half melted as it chased after Hero Mentor Excelsior and his intern, "as well as this." A blurred figure leapt into frame kicking Experiment Four in the face causing a quiet murmur from the speakers under the monitors.

Number Two was the first to speak, "is there a reason you've decided only now to reveal Experiment Four died fighting with the local slum Heroes?" But before anyone could respond to his question, the voice of Number Five spoke up.

"Could it be?" Number Five asked to nobody in particular, but it sounded as if the body behind the voice was frantically checking notes.

The man in the suit smiled as he watched the footage of the hooded Vigilante fighting Experiment Four, "I trust you've come to the same conclusion as myself, Number Five?"

"When we first began experiments with the Quirk Transference equipment, we had to flush out the DNA it had stored from when my idiot of a brother found it and tried to use it to rob a convenience store. One set of DNA belonged to one of the local Heroes which we later learned could help the transfer process, the other belonged to some civilian." Number Five paused, no doubt watching the footage more closely, "DNA of a Quirk that is very similar to the one this Vigilante posesses."

"I believe, this is the very first sighting of our new up and coming Vigilante called Arachnid. Observe." The man in the suit pointed out whenever Arachnid shot webbing from his hands while fighting Experiment Four, "look how he fights, what would you call the material he's spraying, Number Five?"

The voice of Number Five spoke up, "spider webbing, the same as the remnants of the Quirk we found previously stored in the device."

"Is it possible the device was used prior to our acquisition of it?" Asked Number Three.

"Aside from the initial report Number Five gave us of her brother using it, no," said the man in the suit, "anyone wish to hazard a guess as to what this means?"

A moment of silence passed before, surprising the man in the suit, Number Two spoke, "someone was exposed to the beam during that fool's attack and inherited the Quirk of the Civilian that died. A Quirk was successfully transferred without unstable mutation."

"A gold star to Number Two." The man in the suit performed a light golf clap, "unfortunately, rounding up witnesses of the event has proven difficult. More so since of the three key witnesses, two are no longer in the land of the living, and the third is in no condition to relay any kind of information beyond 'oh please, stop, it hurts'." The man in the suit rolled his eyes sarcastically and shook his head, utterly frustrated by Gemstone's lack of cooperation. "If Arachnid was exposed to the Quirk Transference's beam during that battle, he inherited a new Quirk and didn't mutate into some Monstrosity like our Experiments. We need to find him, and find out how that was possible."

"Number Four requests I find Arachnid, as it was our Experiment that he defeated. We are owed payback," spoke the thick Russian accent from the speaker.

"Of course, dear. Whatever your father wants, it is Christmas after all," replied the man in the suit held his glass in his freshly healed hand. "Ladies and Gentlemen, if we can bring in this Vigilante, we are that closer to perfecting the art of Quirk Transference and weaponization. A New Year is right around the corner, and with it comes new opportunities. Here's to us."

Five voices spoke in unison from the monitors, all voices saying the same phrase, "Victory is Imminent." One by one the monitors began to shut off, leaving the man in the suit alone in his office.

The man in the suit, downed the last of the alcohol in his glass. "Victory is Imminent", said the man in the suit as he set his empty glass down on his desk as he shut off the sixth monitor. Giving one last look outside his window at the city below, the man shut off the lights and left the office of Noman Ozwell, CEO of Oz Industries.


End file.
